Darkness Falls 2: The Aramov Scandle
by Tobias
Summary: Corneria's Military is being held hostage. DCTU and Star Fox enter to save the day... but things don't always go as percision planning planned.
1. The Aramov Scandle

They had all seen the end of The Darkness incident. They had all been in the courtroom when Akita had been shot by a member of the family of someone he had killed. And, while an investigation had been started, given public and military bias, it didn't last very long. The convicted got off on a technicality after an insanity plea was issued to the district attorney.

The plea was accepted.

Shortly after that, four months had passed without any improvement on Ivan's condition. It was discovered that it was a chemical mixture introduced into his blood system that had caused the coma - where it had come from no one knew, but they were able to discovered that it had activated because of a high stress and adrenaline level - after a very tearful talk with the crew, they had decided to remove life support.

From there on out, DCTU served with the local police, they helped to quell any uprising that was deemed unacceptable by the military. This happened many times as bi-weekly protests seemed to be happening more often than ever before. After a protest turned into an assassination attempt, everyone stepped up their security. But somewhere else, someone was planning to put the planet into an uprising...

And they knew, it would only be a matter of time.

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December 15th - Snowing - 2.6 Miles North-North East from Military HQ

Few years after the Original Incident

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"What part of snowing streets says 'go faster' to people?" Jackie whined among the whirling winds. With nothing on their tactical radar, the men and women of DCTU had been reduced to traffic duty. "Besides, its too cold." She continued, checking her in unit temp gauge through the window. It read off a frosty 35 degrees.

"It's not that cold." Brea said.

"Easy for you to say, you're covered in fur!"

"Hmm... look at that, I guess I am."

Jackie just growled at her slightly. "Fine, fine... where's Bryan? Thought he was going to meet us here..."

"He got called out to another collision."

"Man, everyone is just sliding out on the ice. It's unreal. I don't even get it, some of these cars don't even touch the ground!"

"Its the friction boosters. Since the ice is there, they've got nothing to react to." Brea responded without a second thought. Jackie just rolled her eyes.

"Damn smart ass cats. I glad i'm a dog lover."

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Snowing & Windy - 3.27 Miles South West from Military HQ

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"Medics are rolling out, you wanna hang around for the wrecker?" Bryan asked, the question was directed towards Mei.

"Yah, I'll hang. No doubt your going to want to head back to base and snuggle with a certain someone."

"Alright - how long are you guys going to tease me about that?"

"About as long as I can." She concluded, smirking back at him.

He ignored her, shutting his cargo door while rubbing his hands up and down opposite arms in an attempt to warm up. "Sides, how long is it going to be before you and Bill stop flirting?"

"Shut up." She chilled.

"Fine, but all I'm saying is, you're got no grounds to talk."

He sat on the tailgate bumper for a moment before standing back up. "Why don't we have a local wait around? Its not like they can't stand the winter wind."

"Guess you're right."

"Now who wants to hurry back and snuggle."

"Quiet you." She hissed back.

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DCTU Headquarters

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"Any more assignments? Or can I take get some rest?" Dean asked, setting his holster down on his desk.

"We should be fine for an hour, go get some rest." Bryan responded, yawning himself. He turned on his heels heading down the long hall. He had to admit, he missed the old base, it had that worn, used look. This one... damn it looked brand new.

He turned into the rec room, noticing the some-what quiet music being played from the large couch that they had all carried in. He looked over the back of it to find Brea sitting there, headphone stuck into her ears with music blaring. He looked at the table to see the media player of her choice was actually Mei's CD player and judging by the CD on the table and what Bryan could make out from the headphones, she was listening to Do As Infinity - Or, better yet, he could tell the song was Mellow Amber.

She must as heard him or felt someone watching her, because it wasn't long after he discovered this that she looked up at him, pulling the headset from her ears.

"Spying on me again?"

"Not at all..."

"Right…"

"Anyway we're all tired for the day and a couple of us are heading home. Wanna go grab a bite?"

"Nah, thought we could just hang out around here for the night. Easier."

There was a moment of silence after she had turned off the CD player.

"Still taking heat about the time they caught us sleeping on the couch?"

"Yup, from Mei, you?"

"Bill and Falco."

"Ouch."

"Tell me about you. You would think everyone would grow up already."

"No kidding. What? They've never seen two grown adults take a nap before?"

"Well you have to admit… to them it would seem much more." Brea admitted, a blush former under her fur.

"Oh, Brea - not you too!"

"No, no! I'm just saying… it was a good nap."

Another awkward silence.

"Hey, next time Bill says something to you - ask him where he spent Monday night."

"What do you mean?"

"Jackie said she was bringing up Mei's laundry and knocked on the door. She thought Mei had gone out for a little while so she was going to just put it on the bed and leave. She opened the door and found her and Bill fast asleep in her bed, snuggling no less."

"Owned."

"No kidding. And while Jackie said she wouldn't say a word to me, she told Katt."

"Let me guess… Katt told Falco… Falco told Fox… Fox told Krystal and then told you."

"Bingo. How did you guess?"

"That's the same chain that got us."

"Figures. Know what? I'm bored as hell, sure I can't talk you into going out for a little while?"

"You just wanna buy me dinner."

"We could go out and you could just pay for yourself you know..."

"Point taken. Where do you wanna go?"

"What about that small place down the street?"

"Sounds good."

"Alright - lets go." Bryan finished, holding her jacket out for her after grabbing it off the back of the chair.

Brea nodded, taking her jacket from him she slipped it over her shoulders as they headed for the door.

Once inside the car Bryan started it, turning the heater on right away before even opening the garage doors. They started out, high-beams running and four-way flashers on. The snow was coming down alot harder now, it was a full blown blizzard.

"You know, Falco said that in all his years living here, he's never seen a winter this bad before." Brea commented, loosening her coat to let the cars heat at her.

"Oh yah?"

"Yup."

"Where are they hiding anyway? Only one I saw round base today was Fox."

"Well... Krystal is at home with a cold, Falco is taking care of Katt who got sick as well, though he was in long enough to tease me, Bill has been between General Pepper's Office, R-n-D, and his office at our base for the past three hours... lets see... oh! And James was running around the base with Jackie for a little while, helping her with papers."

"James is helping out at base?"

"Yah, kid's fourteen now. It isn't even like Fox or Krystal asked him to help out, the kid just shows up."

"Anyone paying him for his help at least?"

"I tried too, but he just told me he didn't want it."

"Kid's got heart."

"Yup," Brea laughed. "Probably got it from his mother. I figured that since Christmas is coming up I'd get him something real nice."

"Åw, how sweet." Bryan responded jokingly. "I remember we used to get rounds from our own gun cage from you."

She laughed at him. "If you had paid me better..." She trailed, letting her sentence hang.

They were quiet until they had reached the Diner. "Man, can't believe this place is open during the storm." Bryan said between shivers as he ran with Brea from the unit to the door. "Probably a safe harbor for anyone trapped in the storm!" She called back over the wind.

Bryan had the door already open for her to just run through, which he quickly followed her in. They sat in a corner booth. Brea removed her radio from her belt, setting it on the table after adjusting the volume on it so as not to disturbed any of the other patrons. Bryan adjusted his too, leaving it on his belt however.

"Think after this we should swing by the house? See how Krystal and Katt are doing?" Bryan asked.

"Yah. Gotta say, its so much easier living in the same house with everyone." Brea was scanning her menu to see what was good, all the while using a claw to clear her ear of unwanted snow. "We'll order some soup to go for them." She said a moment later.

The waitress was a petite lupine. She couldn't have been any older than twenty-four, of course, being a regular at the Diner, they had seen her many times before.

"You two, again? If I didn't know any better I'd say you were mated." She quipped, sliding the little order booklet out of her apron.

Bryan nearly choked and Brea seemed to laugh at him. "Not yet, Jen. So, who's workin' the grill tonight?"

"Davis, so don't order anything with grease already in it."

"Hmm... alright. Let me get large soda, and one of those omelet wraps." Bryan ordered.

"I'll get the same... oh, and Jen? Think you can put two tomato soup orders in for to go?"

"Sure thing, but why two?"

"Krystal and Katt are feeling down and out. Figured they'd need a pick me up."

"You guys got it. I'll even make it myself." She said, tapping the menu's on her hip before walking back towards the kitchen.

"If it wasn't for Davis working today, I probably would have ordered a burger."

"Thought you didn't like the ones on Corneria?"

"Don't get me wrong, Brea. I miss Earth food, but the stuff here takes the same, even if it is some chemical compound and a substitute."

"Amen to that." Was her response, just as the food came.

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DCTU House

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"Hey, Fox." Brea called, opening the door before as Bryan quickly shut it after he entered.

"You guys are back, eh? Mei and James got here a few minutes ago. Bill said he was on his way, his place has no heat." Fox said, eyeing the two containers in Bryan's hands.

"What's that?"

"Oh! Soup for Krystal and Katt." He said, handing them over to Fox. "Can you deliver them? I'm going to take hot shower."

"_Dispatch to Five-five David. Adam, Boy, and Truck two are responding to another accident. Code three, suspected serious injuries."_

"Or not." He sighed, grabbing his radio of his belt. "Five-Five, I copy." He said, reaching for his keys. "Hold up Bryan, I'll go with you." Brea called, following him out the door.

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Thanks to the ABS brakes on the unit, they were able to stop it on the very icy stretch of road.

"Five-Five David advice, the road here is beyond slippery, alert which back-up units in route."

"_Copy, alerting medics and fire."_

Bryan looked over to see Brea taking off her boots.

"What are you doing?" He asked, fixing his jacket to protect himself from the wind.

"My feet will get cold, but I'll be able to keep my traction in the ice." She said, hopping out of the car.

Bryan nodded, getting out as well. He slid slightly towards the wreck, stopping himself by leaning on one of the cars.

"Holy shit." He hissed, seeing neither of the passengers moving inside the car.

"Dispatch! Alert eight-eight-seven. Tell Mei we need her here, she'll be able to get her faster than the medics will."

"_Copy. Dispatching 887 Medic."_

Bryan wedged his fingers under a part of the crushed door, pulling hard he was able to free it. He stumbled back a bit, though when he slid towards the car again he was able to regain is balance. Brea was running as fast as the conditions would allow her to, she was carrying the first aid kit in one hand, and extra blankets in the other.

She tossed two blankets up on the roof of the car before rushing over to the next car. Bryan stuck his head in the car, pushing to fingers to the fur's wrists to try and feel for a pulse.

The pulse was weak, but still there. The driver was slouched forward, head pressed against the steering wheel.

"I've got two lives ones over here!" Brea called. "They're awake and responsive. They're even about to walk around." She finished, packing her stuff up and running towards him. "What do you got?"

"An adult and a kid. Neither moving nor awake. I've got a week pulse on him, not too sure about her just yet." Bryan said, looking up momentarily to see Brea pry the other door open to assess the little girl.

"Here." She said, handing him a neck restraint. He applied it to the driver before pushing him back slightly so that he was flat on the seat. "Oh my god."

The surprises kept coming.

"_Guys I'm a minute out. You'll be hearing my siren any second."_ Mei called over the radio.

"Dispatch! I need emergency services and medics here right now!"

"_They're pulling a code three, hold tight."_

"What do you got?" Brea asked, not looking up from the girl.

"I'm looking right into the face of Wolf O'Donnell over here." Bryan called back over Mei's siren as she pulled up. Other sirens in the distance told all of them that emergency services and medics were not too far out.

"What do you got?" Mei asked, sliding over in the same fashion Bryan had.

"I'm looking at Wolf O'Donnell and possibly his daughter. Both out. I don't see any bleeding and they appear stable." Brea filled her in while the two from the other car stood at the side of the road, wrapped in blankets.

"Alright, we can't move him until the medics get here with a back board. What about the girl?"

"She appears fine. She was strapped in tight and her pulse is good. I've got a neck brace on her, but I don't think she'll need it."

Mei set down her kit, jumping up onto the hood of the car before jumping down on the other side. Bryan watched her reappear in the doorway on the other side. She pressed two fingers to the neck of the young girl. "Her spine isn't twisted of anything…" She assessed out loud.

"Want to try and move her to a warmer area?"

"Hold on, she's waking up."

A moment later there was a faint sob before a full on cry was heard.

Mei looked up at Bryan before back down to the little girl.

"Sweetie, you need to calm down ok? My name is Mei, I'm going to help you, alright?"

The sobbing continued, though it had gone down a few decibels.

"Alright, good. Just take a few deep breaths, ok? Now… can you tell me how old you are?"

"I'm only seven." She said between sobs.

"Good, good. What about your name?"

"Lindsay O'Donnell." She choked out.

"Ok, Lindsay. Do you feel any pain anywhere."

"I don't think so. Where's my daddy?"

Bryan almost jumped when Wolf let out a ragged breath.

"Listen to them, Lindsay. They know what they're doing." He rasped out.

"Daddy!"

"I'm fine. Just listen to them."

Mei continued on with the little girl.

"Hey Wolf, welcome back to the world of the conscious." Bryan said, folding a blanket around him. "How do you feel?"

"Like I was hit by a truck. What's going on?"

"Alright, well, for one thing, you were hit by a large vehicle. You're daughter is just fine, Mei's taking care of her. I've got a neck brace on you, so don't try to turn alright? Medics are on their way, we're going to get you guys to a hospital."

Wolf struggled to open his eyes.

"Take it easy." Bryan hissed, looking up to see Mei lifting Lindsay out of the car. "I'm going to stash her in a unit and keep her warm. She's just fine."

Bryan nodded, tending back to his patient just as the medics rolled up.

"_Medic 32, on scene."_

"_This is dispatch, we copy."_

"Wolf the medics are here, ok? Any family you want us to contact?"

"Little girl's all I got. Hey, do me a favor…" His voice was still raspy as he closed his eyes again.

"Yah, what do you need?" Bryan asked, about to be pushed out of the way by a medic.

"Don't let the pup see me till I'm actually awake. Don't want him getting ideas."

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Mei was sitting in one of the chairs with Lindsay. She was watching the younger wolf color on some paper while Bryan approached a doctor.

"What can you tell me?"

"Well… medics described the way the car had ended up… I'm surprised that he made out as he did. He's got a broken wrist, a broken leg. Two cracked ribs, and a hairline fracture in his hip bone. Other than that he should be fine. He'll be sore for a long time and he'll have a headache for a day or two. But other than that, he's set."

"Yah, thanks."

Just then, Fox came running down the hall.

"Hey! I just heard, is he ok?"

"Whoa! Calm down, he's just fine. But no one goes in till he wakes up."

"Man… when I found out who it was, I thought I wasn't going to have a top-notch rival any more… I'm just glad he's okay. Besides, he saved my life more times then I care to count."

"I know what you mean. You can wait around here if you want, I'm heading back to the house. Its been a long shift and I'm too tired to stay awake much longer."

"Alright, just do me a favor and check up on Krystal for me?"

"Sure thing."

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"Hey, are we doing presents this year?" Brea asked, getting out the car and making a run for the house.

"I guess so… no one's really said much about it."

She stopped at the door, turning around to give him a brief hug. "Hope you like what I got you." She said, before disappearing into the doorway. Bryan grinned before following her into the house. Everyone was sitting around, though Falco had propped himself up on Katt's hip, fast asleep at that.

Krystal had moved from her room to the couch as well, Jackie was sitting next to her, and in between Krystal's sniffles, he could hear giggles.

"What are you two doing?" Bryan asked, leaning over the back of the couch.

"Just look at some photos." Jackie said, pointing to one of them. "Look, its Fox, Bill, and Falco at the academy."

Katt looked over at the two. "Hold it up, I wanna see."

Jackie picked up the book, holding it up and leaving a finger to point at the picture they were looking at.

"Aw, little Falco was so cute." She said, giggling and pretending to pet the one she had sleeping on her.

Bryan just laughed. "Women, I swear." He said, heading up towards his room to change and get ready for a shower.

Meanwhile, James came flying down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Hey, were are you going?" Krystal called to him just as he was about to push the door open.

"Just to get a snack."

"No, not until after dinner."

"Mom, please?"

Krystal stared at him for a moment. "Alright, but a small one! And if you don't eat your dinner…" She warned. James nodded. "Thanks, Mom."

James opened one of the cupboards, only stopping when the phone rang.

Out in the living room, Krystal heard her son shout to her. "Mom! It's General Pepper! He's looking for Bryan!"

"Take a message, dear."

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Bryan shut the door behind himself, stepping lightly towards the seating before the desk.

"James said you called." He said, seating himself.

"Ah, yes. Well… the public is going crazy about your actions during the Darkness Incident. You guys are the biggest hero since Star Fox rolled in. Now with that said… a few of my higher-ups feel like its time for the public to get an inside view of your lives."

Bryan blinked a few times. "Wait… you're not saying…"

"They've asked that you allow them to set up cameras inside the house and around the base… they also want a crew to follow you and your people around."

"What? General, you seriously can't consider this!"

"Whoa, hold on. There is something in it for you guys too. You guys let them do this, and you guys get a hefty new budget."

"A new budget just for letting a crew follow us around… how long?"

"One month."

Bryan looked off to his right for a moment… "How big of a budget are we talking?"

"They are talking upwards up fourteen million."

"That much?"

"I know it seems like a lot, but - in light of recent events and threats… we feel you'll need it."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… No one said anything to me about any threats… I knew of the attacks, but no threats."

"Really? I find this surprising, General Aramov was supposed to report to you."

"She did no such thing… General, what kind of threats have been filtering in?"

"Well… no calls as of late… but I, myself, have received two letters. Jill at M-TAC has received one, and Dracous had gotten one as well." He read off, pulling open one of his desk drawers.

Bryan was silently taking notes in his head. "Everyone directly involved with the Darkness incident has received one." He said, trailing off as Pepper handed him two papers in plastic bags.

Bryan read over the letters, grimacing twice as he read them. "They're very… graphic."

"Yes, they are. But they name no names or dates. Just a threat. Not even demands."

"It's suspicious I'll say… want me to keep an eye on it?"

"Well… you have some shady connections and know some people… see what you and your team can dig up. But keep it quiet! We don't need the public hearing about this, they believe the cold war is over."

"If only they knew, eh?" Bryan responded, reaching for the vibrating object in his pocket.

"Hello?"

"_Hey, its me. Listen, the police just called into our dispatch center. Forensics snagged Wolf's car before it was towed to the repair shop… Bryan the wires to the friction boosters were cut."_ Brea said, keeping her voice down.

"Could it have been an effect from the crash?"

"_No way man, these things were a clean cut - I've seen stuff done by knives and scissors before, but these are clean, real clean."_

"Alright… take a drive and sit outside his house, I'll meet you there in a little while." Bryan said, hanging up the phone.

"Something wrong?"

"Yes… you know about Wolf's accident, right?"

"Uh sure… it was on the news."

"His breaks were cut, that thing was no accident."

Pepper stared back at him for a moment, Bryan hoped he was thinking the same thing he was.

"Suspicious… he was involved in the incident… you think someone is carrying out a threat?" Pepper asked, fumbling through his desk again.

"I really don't want to think that… his little girl was with him…" Bryan sighed, rubbing his temples before standing up. "I have to go, meeting Brea at his house to play a hunch."

"Hold on a minute!" Pepper called after him. Bryan turned around to see him signing a paper.

"Just to cover the paper work, take this warrant with you." He said, holding it out.

"Thanks."

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The wind had long subsided, but the snow was still coming down and it was still too cold for anyone in their right mind to venture outside. Of course, dedicated city workers and police officers were out and about, including the DCTU team.

Bryan pulled his unit to a stop behind another one. This one was marked with the number "90-D" on the back bumper.

_It's been a while since she drove her own car around._ Bryan mused, getting and after hitting a few switches so that his light bar flashed through the snow, warning others of their presence so that they weren't rear ended.

He knocked on her window, waiting for her to step out.

"Hey, what's up?" She asked, shrugging her coat on.

"Well… threats have been mailed to some people who were directly involved with the Darkness incident. And since Wolf was one of the few that delivered one of the fatal blows, it wouldn't surprise me if we searched the place and found a letter mailed to him too."

"That's nice and all, but aren't you forgetting something?" She asked, eyeing him slightly.

"Nope." He said, taking the folded warrant out of his back pocket, tapping it on her right ear, which twitched under the touch of the paper.

She continued to give him her look. "Not that, how are we going to get in? We don't have a key…"

"What do we always do if we don't have a key?"

"We blow down the… what! No, Bryan! Its not a hostage situation!"

"Calm down! I wasn't going to put a C2 charge on it. It looks like an old frame and a hinge door, we'll just give it a kick." He said, walking up towards it.

Brea followed him, looking at one of the windows to see if she could see an open window so they didn't have to destroy a door. Not much to her surprise, none of them were - though much to her surprise, she saw the curtain move.

"Hey, Bryan, didn't Wolf say it was only him and his daughter that lives here?"

"Yah, why?"

"The curtain just moved, someone's in there." She said, jolting a thumb towards the window.

Bryan un-holstered his weapon without thinking while Brea did the same.

He knocked on the door. "Police, open up! Search warrant!"

A crash was heard from inside the house. Bryan took a step back lifting his leg up he nailed the door right above the handle. It flew off its lock, hitting the wall with a thud. They searched the entire house, only to find a broken window in the back.

"Damn it, he's gone." Brea cursed, holstering her sidearm.

Bryan looked around the living room, looking at random pictures hung up or posted on shelves in frames.

"Mostly him and his daughter… except for this one…"

The one he was referring to was one of Wolf, his daughter - no older than two - and a snow white lupine, obviously female.

"What do you think, the little girl's mother?" Bryan asked, picking the picture up to see it better. "Probably. Lindsay does have the gray and white from them."

"I wonder what happened to her." Bryan continued to wonder, setting the picture back down.

"This might explain it." Brea called from up the stairs. Bryan followed her voice to a bedroom. Judging by the size of the bed, it was Wolf's.

Brea was looking at a newspaper clipping, Bryan stepped up behind her, reading the headline.

"Loving Wife Killed in Military Raid." He read aloud. "Marie O'Donnell was killed today in a Military led raid on a suspected underground casino. Police say that she was caught in the crossfire between police and suspects in the building. Marie herself was not in the building, but on the street when the incident broke out. The forensics labs have yet to be able to tell where the fatal shot had come from, the military, or the suspects. Marie O'Donnell leaves behind a daughter, four, and a loving husband."

Brea shook her head. "That's sad."

"I'll say…" Bryan agreed. "Poor little girl too, she was just starting off when all this happened." He finished, turning around and looking through a stack of papers.

"Ah ha! Found it!" He said, holding up the paper by the edge, fishing out an evidence bag from his inner jacket pocket.

"I knew we would find one of these here." He said, holding it up to read.

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"Man… we've got a lot of stuff to get done." Mei said, shutting the door quietly behind her. Once again, the DCTU house had become a safe haven for another unfortunate soul, in this case, Wolf's little girl.

"How is she doing?" Bill asked.

"She'll be fine. She's just tired. Bryan said that him and Brea found a threatening letter at Wolf's house. Brea says that his friction booster wires had been cut."

"So… attempted murder?"

"Appears that way."

Mei sighed, taking a step forward and giving Bill a hug. "I feel a war coming… it feels like its going to be big."

He sighed, pulling her closer. "It's ok. We'll make it through."

Bryan cleared his throat and the two stepped apart quickly.

"Hope I didn't interrupt anything but… house meeting in four minutes in the living room. No exceptions… if you're late, we'll come looking for you." He said, turning around. Before he hit the stairs he called back. "And Bill, check your chin - you're drooling."


	2. All in Truth

"Alright guys, lets start off." Bryan said, sitting on the arm of a chair. "First up, threats have been filtering in to some of those who helped out with the Darkness incident. One of which was carried out on Wolf O'Donnell. So, from here on out, we're on high alert. We'll be pulling lots of VIP duty and security details, so keep your weapons clean and operational."

His serious face disappeared and a grin took its place.

"So, with business out of the way - what are our plans for Christmas?"

"Well… I figured we could be out on our own from Christmas eve, and we'd spend the day in Christmas day… of course so long as we don't get any call outs." Jackie offered.

"Alright… so we just hang out with whoever on Christmas eve… anyone got someone in mind?"

"Well obviously, I'm going to want to take Krystal out, and I'm sure Falco and Katt will be going out."

"Me and Bill were going to go out to dinner as well." Mei said.

"I was going to go out with a friend I met at the Diner." Jackie stated, her voice drifting slightly.

"I was going to hit the bar. Never was one for the holidays." Dean admitted, shrugging off any feeling what-so-ever.

"Five bucks says that Bryan and Brea are going to go out." Mei chuckled.

Brea semi-glared at Mei while Bryan just laughed. "And? So what if we are?"

Mei just grinned at him.

"Alright… oh, final thing. For Christmas we'll need to make a morning run to the hospital for Lindsay. Last I heard, Wolf wants her to spend Christmas here and further more until he gets out of the hospital, she'll be our responsibility."

"That's fine. Why don't Fox and Krystal take her?" Katt asked, looking at the couple.

"That's fine, we'll take her around seven. Speaking of kids, anyone want to chip in? We should get the poor girl a present."

"Yah, I will. She deserves something." Bryan said.

"I'll chip in too." Brea added.

"Count me and Mei in."

"I'll donate. And I'll make sure Falco does too."

"I'll donate." Dean added, reaching for his wallet. Slippy tossed in his credits as well.

"Hey guys, what time is it?" Brea suddenly asked, feeling tired.

"It about one in the morning." Katt said, looking over her shoulder at the clock.

"It was that late shift we pulled that set us off." Brea said. "Plus we just got the kids to lay down for bed no more than an hour ago. They're going to be tired for school."

"Well hold on." Fox said, turning on the news. "No they won't - looks like school is canceled for the rest of the week. Damn, this snow is really coming down hard. It won't be long to they declare a state of emergency and shut down the roads."

"I almost forgot!" Bryan suddenly shouted. "Uh… we're going to have some month long visitors." He was testing the water, hoping it would hold no deadly sharks.

"What _kind_ of visitors?" Mei asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"The kind that will follow our every move with cameras and stuff."

"Bryan." Mei growled. "Absolutely not!"

"We don't have a choice. Besides, we've been promised a nice big budget if we can pull this off. So - everyone on their best behavior."

"What do we have to do to get the budget?" Brea asked.

"Well, not much. They'll ask us a few questions and we'll have to sit in a booth at least once a day, just to either let off some steam or whatnot. Use it as you please."

"Well… it doesn't sound too bad…" Jackie said, looking around the room to see if the others shared her feelings. Mei herself was looking something fierce.

"I don't like it… but if it brings in good cash…" She sighed, moving to stand. "I'm going up to bed."

"Night." A few of the chorused to her, just getting a wave on her way out of the room.

"It sounds worse than it is… they'll be here in four days, so lets not screw this up, ok?"

He received collective nods, before heading up the stairs himself.

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"Are our plans set?"

"Yes, my lord. But… it seems we already have a problem."

"Oh, and what is that?"

"Well… its just that Wolf didn't die."

The first voice seemed to sigh.

"Well… we are still learning. With Akita out of the way, we have time."

"Are you sure, sir? I mean… we all know Akita planned every move he ever made, and look what happened! They still got him!

"Akita was a fool! He didn't have as many loyal people as we do. We will not fail."

"I must beg to differ, sir! The risks are just too great! Couldn't we attack somewhere else?"

"I will do no such thing! We _will_ attack Corneria!"

"If you say so, sir. But I would like to go on record to say that I still believe that we are missing something."

"Alright, Ryo. What are we missing?"

"Well… Akita was a trained military member. He trained his people the way he was trained in the Corneria military! He spent as much time as he could reading up on DCTU's tactics and moves. Their families and friends! Even their pets! He read up on Star Fox and its members! Everything! We have yet to even begin such research! We are not ready!"

"But the prophecy-"

"I am well aware of the prophecy, sir! But even they require preparation and research!"

"I see… alright, assemble a team to do their homework, got it?"

"As you wish, sir."

"And Ryo?"

"Yes?"

"I will kill you if you screw this up."

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Bryan groaned, sitting up. Something loud had just gone off somewhere in the house. It didn't sound like a door, or even a gunshot. But it was loud!

Minding his safety as well as the others, he didn't grab his sidearm, walking into the dark hallway. He looked up, catching the glint off of Katt's eyes. "You heard that too?" He whispered, knowing she would hear him.

"Yah, where did it come from?" She whispered back, crossing the way to meet him.

"I don't know." He said, feeling one of her paws hit his back.

"I'm not armed." She whispered, hanging close to the wall.

"It's alright, I've got mine." He said, padding down the hallway.

"Well check the kids first." He said, moving to James' room, pushing on the door slightly. It slid open easily, allowing him to poke his head in and see that the kid was sound asleep.

"Man, kid don't wake for nothing." Bryan whispered low, shutting the door.

Next they tried the guest room that Lindsay was staying in. Bryan checked the knob.

"It's locked." He said, pressing an ear to the door.

"Someone's moving around in there." He whispered again. He felt Katt leave him for a moment, returning soon enough.

"Here." She said, handing him a flashlight. He positioned it with his non-dominant hand, making sure he was still able to fire. Katt had a flashlight of her own, but still no weapon.

"Think you can pick it?" He asked. "Really don't wanna breach unless we have to."

Katt check her claws. "I'm on it." She said, setting to work. After only a moment they heard a small click. "Got it."

Bryan nodded, motioning for her to back up, he hit the knob, opening the door fast and hard - no doubt waking the entire house up now.

First thing he saw was Lindsay hiding under the bed. Katt followed him in, grabbing her and ushering her out of the room. Just in time for Fox to come in with his blaster.

"What's going on?" He asked, holding it at his side, seeing Bryan clicking his safety back on.

Bryan shut the open window, noticing the scratch marks on the outside.

"Someone was in the house."

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"Hold still, dear." Katt said, holding on to Lindsay's arm while Mei applied some medicine to the gash on the arm, before treating a claw mark on her face.

"Man, he went right for her." She said quietly.

Meanwhile up stairs, the boys were hard at work.

"Alright, lets make this as secure as we can." Falco said, taking some tools to the window. Bryan had climbed onto the roof and was installing some motion sensing lights and cameras.

"He won't be getting back in here."

Bill and Slippy were cleaning up the mess that had been made in the attack, and Fox was bringing up some locks and security devices.

A few of the new devices would detect if the windows were open and turn on one of the cameras in the area, while setting off an alert if a window was broken.

"Don't even patchwork it, completely redo it." He told Falco.

"What? Replace the window?"

"Yup, if they broke it once, it'll be weak. Just replace it. I've got one in the truck."

"I got it."

Seeing Falco remove the window, Bryan grasped the ledge of the house, swinging off the roof and into the room, landing on the bed.

"Kind of fun." He admitted. "Alright, lights and security installed. I'm going to finish the rest of the wiring downstairs."

Downstairs, he went out to the truck, picking up the projection set, he walked it into the armory. "This is the most secure place in the entire house. Best place to set up the network." He said, setting to work on plugging all the cameras in a checking them.

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Still cradling the small child in her arms, Mei was sitting on the couch.

"It's alright, he won't be coming back." She was reassuring her.

"Alright, me and the guys replaced the window, set up some cameras and motion sensor lights. I set up the recorder in the armory so no one can get to it if they don't have the pass code. One of the cameras is right outside her window and I've got two covering the hallway. And a few more around the complex. They're also linked to the base. All of the windows in the house and on a shield. They shouldn't break, but if they do, an alert will be set off. And finally, the cameras are running a face recognizing program linked the MDB. If anyone with a record or suspected or even under investigation gets in the view of a camera, we'll all get an alert. It will also recognize anyone from the local police or military as well." He added, sitting down next to her.

"Now, how is she feeling?"

Mei hugged the small child close. "Poor girl is scared shitless. Whoever it was gave her a good beating. It was almost as if they didn't expect her to be there, and when she was, they didn't know what to do."

"I'm troubled by the fact that they even attempted to break into here."

"Me too." Jackie admitted, rubbing her eyes before handing a cup of coffee over to Mei, returning to the kitchen for a moment.

"Alright well… alarm is set, everything is working. I've checked all your wiring. We're rigged up tighter than the military compound itself. I'm going back to bed guys." Slippy stated with a surprising few amounts of stuttering.

"Night Slip." Mei called over her shoulder. Jackie returned with another cup, holding this one out to Lindsay. "Here babe. Trust me, it'll let you relax."

She took the cup, taking a sip. "Is it good? It helps me relax before we go to work." Jackie stated.

Mei set Lindsay down on the couch, standing up and letting Jackie take a seat.

"Care to show me where these Cameras are?"

"Yah, this way."

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"Is she alright?" Wolf asked, looking up at the ceiling, instead of turning his head towards Fox.

"She's safe Wolf. Bryan and Katt rescued her."

"Is that bastard dead?"

"No Wolf, he must of heard them picking the lock and took off."

"I'm trusting you Fox… don't let anything happen to her. She's all I got."

"Don't worry Wolf. There is more than ten of us to look out for her at any one time. She's safe. We revamped security at the house last night. Even reset the access codes to the armory and front door. No one is getting in who shouldn't. Trust me."

"Alright, pup. You convinced me."

"Besides, you should see Mei, Katt, and Jackie. They are spending the entire day with her today. And last night? After words they stayed in her room all night, didn't budge at all! We've got her covered Wolf."

"That's good to know."

Fox sighed for a moment. "Look… doctor says that you won't be going much of anywhere until after New Years."

"I know that… I'm not worried either, just look after my girl." He reminded Fox again.

"You care a lot about her."

"I already said it pup, she's all I got. If anything happened to her, I don't know what I would do."

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"… _news network hasn't ratted off anything their sources may have given them yet. But, I have been able to find out that Akita had five apprentices. Were killed during the M-TAC raid on his base, and two more left the regime after his death, claiming they no longer wanted anything to do with terrorist actions. We've got both of them tagged so we know where they are and what they are up to. The fifth one… well, we lost track of him during the warehouse raid. We don't know where he is - so he'd be your final suspect."_

Dracous was reading off information to them over the car's projection screen. Bryan and Brea sat out front of a drive-thru restaurant, eating away while he gave them information.

"Anything else?" Brea asked.

"_Yah, now that you mention it. We've been intercepting some strange messages lately from an unknown broadcasting location somewhere out in Zoness. We haven't decoded it yet, but we are working on it. We'll let you know what we find. Now, CFFL completely stripped Wolf's car down to the frame. Nothing else was tampered with, just his brakes. They were able to trace all the letters we've found so far to a single printer. We tried to contact the owner, only to find he had been murdered in his home and the thing stolen. We found this symbol painted on the wall."_

In his place appeared the symbol. It was a tall, triangle-like shape with a "V" on top of it.

"_INDB has yet to be able to place it with a known group. Though we are all aware of the striking resemblance to the symbol on the floor of Darkness 2. Only difference is that "V" and the fact that the original one was a five pointed star with the symbol in the center. All I got for you guys."_

"Good job… Hey, Dracous - where is the Darkness 2 now?"

"_Uh… CATFS has it impounded. They place to transfer it to CFFL within the week."_

"Alright, make sure they run through it. See what we can find."

"_Copy that. Hey, don't forget to swing by the labs you two - its lonely working on stuff by myself with Brea around."_

"Thought you were getting an intern?" Brea continued.

"_I did… he's a ditz… shoot - gotta go. Good luck."_

His image disappeared before DCTU flashed on the screen and the image faded back into the projector.

Bryan sighed. "Alright… who would be our leading informant on Akita's crew?" Bryan asked, tossing his trash into the bag they had pulled the food from.

"Well… Wolf only know one aspect of it. Tom got his punishment last year… All we got left is Teresa."

"Right, and she is?"

"Playing tonight at the Civic Center."

"Bingo."

"Bryan… tons of screaming fans… think she'll have the time?"

"Show doesn't start for another four hours. Lets get moving."

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"…and no one can help me now. Fear I shall not, even in my darkest hour, even when I can't see you around me." The singer on the stage stopped abruptly with a growl as the band stopped when they realized she was aggravated. "Damn it. I'm just really off tonight."

"I thought it was good!" Someone called from the darkened area of the large room. All the house lights turned on and a women dressed in a sharp suit strode towards the two.

"How did you get in here? This is a closed session! Security!"

Teresa's eye widened as she gripped the edge of the stage, jumping down.

"Whoa! Whoa! It's alright Maria, they're old friends." She said, jogging up to the group.

Marie - Bryan guessed the manager - gave Teresa a one-sided glace before scoffing and walking off.

"Hey guys!" Teresa welcomed each with a hug.

"I don't know what you mean about being off. It sounded nice to me." Brea said, looking up at the stage before back to Teresa.

"I dunno… it just doesn't sound like it should to me. Something's off."

Bryan just smiled. "I know the feeling."

"So, we've been playing phone tag for some time. Looks like you guys are busy." The singer started, one of her paws rested on her hip as she bent one lag, playing it more than casual.

"I know, between all the accidents we've seen because of the weather and everything - we haven't had time for much." Brea stated, grinning slightly.

"Well you know that the VIP box is always open to you and your friends for free. You guys saved me, it really is the least I can do. But… I take it your not here on a social matter."

"Well, that's just it Teresa. I really would hate to do this to you, and… if you are uncomfortable, then you don't have to but… we need to talk some business." Bryan said, post-sigh.

"Anything for you guys."

"Alright… seen this symbol before?" Brea asked, holding up a small disk - from it came the same symbol Dracous had shown them.

Teresa took a deep breath. "It's a symbol used for one of my brother's apprentices. A "V"?" Well… I remember her. Many of my brother's men thought he was a she because of her ruthlessness but… I know better. Her name is Aramov, and that is her symbol. She would have had an "A" for hers, but - Adriana had already taken it. So, Akita let her choose. She choose "V". Not sure why."

"Know where we can find her?" Brea asked, when Bryan when for his phone.

"I know where she is. There is a General named Aramov, Pepper told me she was supposed to give us a report about those letters he received. Now I know why we never got them." He said, dialing his number.

"General? Listen, I need you to detain General Aramov."

"_Sorry… she just left for good. Turned in her resignation today."_

"Damn it." Bryan hissed, shutting his phone.

"I take it we missed her."

"By a long shot."

"Hey, listen guys. I need to get back up there and practice… mind sitting around for a minute?"

"Uh… sure thing, Teresa."

"Thanks guys." She called, jogging back towards the stage, jumping back up on it.

"Hey, guys, any requests?" She said over the microphone. Both of them just shrugged.

"How about 'With Open Arms'?" Brea called back loudly.

"You got it." She turned around, putting a paw over the microphone before turning back around.

_Over the ocean so blue_

_I call, waiting out the storm_

_Someone never listens to me_

_Now he's lost somewhere in the distant blue_

_But even with my heart in shambles I know better than to cry_

A female background singer joined her for the chorus. +

_When he returns - I'll be ready for him_

_With open arms so wide_

_No one will stop us_

_No on can stop us_

_What will I do when he_

_Returns after so long_

_I think I'll breakdown and cry_

_For the first time in eons_

_Bridge_

_The ship became to the target of the storm_

_I found out two weeks later_

_My love is to return no more_

_But still I hold out hope_

_Maybe I'm too stupid to realize_

_that no one is returning for me_

_+ Still I wait out by the_

_lighthouse on the rocks_

_waiting for the ship's golden light_

_even as the morning light's brush across my face_

_I still stay on the stranded beach_

_No one holds hope for my love to return_

_But they are all fools_

_I still believe in ever after even if life doesn't last that long_

_And I know - I will see you again in death_

_Solo_

_The lighthouse on the rocks is where I stand_

_Forever in eternity_

_I won't move never ever_

_Even when the rocks are tossed_

_I will stand here without wavering_

_Until the ship returns_

_No one knows how long I will wait for all time_

_But still I hold out hope - knowing full well I'm just love's fool_

Bryan thought the song was over when the band pulled a bridging move, jumping quickly into the next song. This one slower.

_Dear friends, so long_

_I'll be with you always_

_Even when you cannot see me, I remain_

_The trips, we've seen, I know too well_

_I've played the fool to long, now I leave_

_to find a better life_

_somewhere where I belong_

_But I will remain, right here - in your heart_

_Believe me when I leave you pillow kisses_

_Open eyes I see deep within your heart_

_Believe me when I leave you pillow kisses_

_Open eyes I see deep within your heart_

_Years, later - you still remember me_

_I haven't faded from your mind_

_Deep in the forest, I will hide_

_Completely bathed in light - yet in darkness_

_I find myself without a guiding light to bind_

_Myself to the world, I know_

_Find me where we used to share those kisses_

_Open eyes I see inside of your heart_

_Find me where we used to share those kisses_

_Open eyes I see inside of your heart_

_Guitar Solo_

_even in the darkness I still can hide_

_even in the light_

_Bridge_

_Find me in the light_

_I'm lost within the dark_

_Far away, from you_

_I call into the night_

_Find me in the light, I know_

_I'm still lost in the dark_

_Far away, from you_

_I call into the night_

_Even when I'm lost without you I still call_

_Far away, into the night_

_I can call so far away_

_La la la la la la la_

_La la la la la la la_

_La la LA la la_

_la la la la la la la la_

_na na la la la la la_

_la la la la la la la_

_na na LA la la_

_na na la la la la la_

_na na la la la la la_

_na na la la la la la_

_na na LA la la_

_na na la la la… la…_

The band played an ending before Bryan and Brea both gave their applause.

"You guys really think it was good? I still feel off about it."

"You're being your own worst critic. It was great!" Brea called back, Bryan nodded his approval.

"Thanks you guys. I've probably kept you too long, please, be on your way! We've got lots of work to do."

Both nodded, waving their goodbyes as the band began its next song.

"She's really good." Brea said to Bryan.

"Oh yah. We have to come for the real thing.

A/N: Hit a little bit of a block for this chapter only because what I wanted to do I wanted to have its own chapter. And to clear any confusing there might be:

CFFL: (C)orneria (F)ederal (F)orensics (L)abs

CATFS: (C)orneria bureau of (A)lcohol (T)obacco (F)irearms and space travel (S)hips

M-TAC: (M)ilitary (T)actical (A)ssault (C)oordination

INDB: (I)neter-planet (N)aval Identification (D)ata(B)ase

The songs in here were written+ by a band I'm in called Shinjitsu no Uta

(Yes, after the DAI song)

_With Open Arms_ is an original by us.

_Forever Waiting_ is half by us. It really was meant to be an English cover for Do As Infinity's Yesterday & Today - but it ended up being a crossbreed. If you listen to the song while reading off the lyrics you'll see what I mean.

See you guys next time.


	3. FEAR's Embrace

"Alright, everything is packed up. We should be back tomorrow." Bryan was talking to Mei who had just shut the cargo door on his unit.

"Alright, call when you get there. Once you hit the valley you'll lose radio and cell contact, so be careful. Okay?"

"We'll be fine." Bryan said, getting into the driver's seat, looking over at Brea. "Ready to go?"

"All set." She said, fastening her seatbelt.

They were off…

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Brea let off a yawn. Sure, the snowy landscape was pretty, but she wasn't really one for scenery to start with. "We're right in the center of the dead zone." She said, turning to look at their GPS screen.

Bryan flicked a few switches, turning their bar and flashers on.

"Can't see much more than four feet in front of us. This snow is coming down hard."

"We could try the heat vision," Brea offered. "but it won't be of much use in the snow. We'll only see blue."

"Right."

Bryan checked his mirrors again. They had yet to see another car on this frosty patch of road. He was keeping his speed down per the weather conditions, but even so, Bryan doubted that even the ABS breaks would be able to stop them if he needed to stop fast.

"Looks like they're even keeping the military patrols in the garage. I haven't seen one since we left the city."

The small talk was just to pass the time. It would still be another two hours before they would reach the first of four security gates to get into the CFFL complex. The reason for going? They wanted to talk one on one with the team tearing apart Wolf's car and see first hand what they had found.

Bryan sighed, leaning forward again. "I'm about to pull over and see if we can't wait this thing out." Pulling the lukewarm coffee cup from its holder he sighed again. His speed went slightly lower is he put the car into low second gear, hoping it was get his traction up.

No such luck. Instead, everything remained the same.

"Damn it." Brea cursed suddenly, drawing Bryan's attention from the road briefly. "What?"

"Tire spikes are jammed." Bryan looked up just in time to catch a glimpse of the fallen tree.

He hit the brakes.

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"What do you want to eat, Kiddo?" Bill asked as Mei sat in the seat next to him.

Instead of taking her to their favorite and frequent diner, they took her to a family friendly place instead. It was nice and warm inside and the place was buzzing with business.

"Can I get the vegetable wrap?"

"You can have whatever you want." Bill then turned towards Mei. "You seemed worried."

"They should have called half an hour ago." She said, checking her phone for the sixth time within a ten minute block.

"Maybe they ran behind? It is snowing hard out there."

"No… Bryan had that thing planned down to the second. He told me that if they did run behind he would call before they hit the dead zone and again after they left it. He should be through it by now."

She felt Bill's paw grab her hand under the table.

"Then lets hope they are ok because we can't send anyone out there until the storm is over."

"I know." She sighed. "I know."

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Cold. All he could feel was the air seeping in around him and a small trickle of liquid for his forehead. He twitched slightly, seeing that he only pain he felt was nothing more than a dull aching, probably from a bruise.

He shivered slightly, his eyes flying open, look strait ahead at the completely cracked windshield. He groaned, reaching to his side to unhook his seatbelt before checking himself over to make sure he didn't have any broken bones and such.

Other than a small gash in his head, he found nothing wrong with him. He looked to his right, seeing that Brea was still out in her seat. He shifted slightly, moving to push his door open, only to find it jammed. He braced himself against the arm rest, lifting a leg and kicked it, forcing it wide open.

He groaned, going against the ache in his muscles, he limped slightly around the back of the car, getting to Brea's door he pulled it open after some work.

First thing he did was check her pulse. He felt relief wash over him seeing it was still strong. Next he found himself checking for broken bones, lacerations, things of that sort. Wiping a trickle of blood from his eye he kept working.

She was safe - she was alive - she was fine.

He sighed again, moving towards the back of the car, pulling one of the blankets from it he put it over her before trying the radio.

"This is five-five David to dispatch. Officer requesting assistance."

He got static back. He tried it again.

"This is Five-five David! I need assistance! Code three! Officer needs assistance!"

Still more static filtered through. He pulled his phone from his vest pocket, seeing it also had no signal.

"Damn it." He cursed again, trying to see if a flare would penetrate the white blaze, but no such luck.

He pulled the cargo door open, pulling a few more blankets out he secluded the back of the car with them, creating a barrier between the wind from the front, from the untouched - and unbroken - back. Finished he looked to see he still had two small and one large blankets. He set those aside when he heard a grunt coming from the front.

"Brea!"

There was a slight groan before she responded. "Yah?"

"You alright?"

"I think so… man, my head hurts."

He heard her combat boots on the ice as she made her way slowly towards the back of the car.

"What are you doing?"

"Giving what I could figure out, the complex is more than an hour and a half away. Even with all of our endurance training and your fur, it still wouldn't be enough to make it alive. But at the same time, the city is four hours back. No way back there either."

"So we're stuck?"

"Not at all." He said, not turning around to look at her as he kept working.

"So? What's the plan?"

"Radios are down as well as the phones. The car is totaled and the GPS system has no power."

Brea glared at him. "You really suck at giving good news, you know that?"

"I'm not done. With the snow coming down the way it is, there is little of no chance of Military patrols on this road for a while. To top it off, anyone from our department will be hampered by the storm so I doubt they'll try anything either until the snow lets up. We're stuck her."

"Again, not anything in there sounded good."

"Well, thanks to Krystal being a mother, she snuck to the unit before we did. Look, food." He said, holding up a bag. "Better yet, drinks. I've set some stuff up here, we should be fine until the storm passes."

"Are you sure we'll be okay?"

"Yah." He said, taking a step aside; showing her the area he had made.

"Typical male." She scoffed. Bryan just raised an eyebrow. "Not like that." He said, hopping in the back, motioning for her to come in with him. He shut the door behind them. "Come on, military one-oh-one. One must share body head with another soldier when in a situation of extreme cold an no extraction." He said pulled a blanket around the two of them as the huddled in the back of the car.

"You make it sound like you're enjoying this." Brea said, reaching across the car for the medical kit, turning back to him.

"To be honest? I'm not. I'd much rather be sleeping in a bunk right now." He watched her treat the wound on his forehead.

"Yah, yah. Be that way, but all I'm saying is, if it wasn't for the circumstances, this might actually be enjoyable." She stated, putting the kit back and snuggling in next to him.

"Now who's enjoying this?"

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"Alright, now I know something is wrong." Mei shouted, running down the stairs.

"Whoa, wait! What's going on?" Jackie asked, setting her laptop of to the side, standing up.

"I just talked to CFFL, Bryan and Brea never arrived, they are four hours overdue! I'm going out there."

"No you are not!"

"What if something happened? What if they are injured out there!"

"Brea is a tough girl and Bryan is smart. They will be fine for the time being. We will alert General Pepper that they have disappeared. When the storm settles enough they will send out a team. They will be fine Mei."

Mei growled while pacing around the living room, destroying small random things. With a final feral growl, she hit the elevator call switch, heading for the shooting range.

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Brea had managed to drift off to sleep while in the so called comfort of the back of the unit. Meanwhile Bryan was wide awake, completely unable to sleep at all. They had huddled into the back of the unit, keeping close in order to share their body heat.

He had to admit, from that day in the lab where he had found himself taking a bagel from her mouth, to today. Though, lately their close encounters had been come more frequent… if not even close to what others would call flirting…

He had to look down at Brea, fast asleep next to him.

Could it really be?

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4.5 Hours Later

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"The snow has died down. I'm taking off." Mei announced, being quickly followed by Jackie and Bill.

"Alright, hold on. We're coming with you." He called after her, grabbing his jacket and an extra one after the hook for Mei. He had just made it to the car as she put it into drive. She mashed a few buttons on her control panel turning on her tire spikes, lights and siren, speeding off - taking the same route Bryan had planned out for him and Brea.

"Dispatch, this is eight-eight-seven. Show me code three, I'm going out to look for Bryan and Brea."

"_Copy, good luck."_

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Somewhere in the back of his mind he thought he heard a siren. He just groaned and rolled over, something warm and fuzzy pressed to his back, he just drifted off again.

Bryan would see wish he would have stayed awake. The reason? His team was never going to let him live this down.

Mei slammed on her breaks, skidding sideways slightly. She jumped out of her car and ran for the crashed unit. She looked in the passenger side, seeing that no one was there and no blood was there either, she sighed slightly, looking towards the back, she saw that blankets were pinned up to the roof.

"What the…" She questioned, moving towards the back, she pulled open the cargo door.

"Bill! Jackie! Come over here!" Mei called, not turning from the scene before here.

Only thing Bryan saw when he woke up was Mei staring back at him, and there it was! That dammed smirk!

It took him a minute to come to his senses before quickly shaking Brea awake.

"Uh… hey guys! Good thing you're here."

"Hmmhmm…" Mei mused while Jackie giggled.

Oh yes, he would never live this down.

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They pulled to a stop outside the complex. Brea and Bill immediately covered their noses. "Oh man, this entire place reeks of blood." Brea said, eyes darting around her.

"I don't see why… the place looks normal enough… even if it is completely secluded from the rest of the city." Bill stated, looking around him as well. Not a single soldier was walking the grounds. No patrols, nothing.

He looked back to his left again, seeing Bryan jogging off towards one of the military trucks.

They met him at the truck, he seemed to be staring at something in the truck. It was charred black, almost like it had been burnt from the inside out.

"What is that?" Jackie asked, staring at it in horror.

"It's a burnt body… but… my god… it appears to have been ripped apart before it burnt…" Bill was horrified at the sight of such acts, and this, really had him going.

"Man… this is not good. In all my years in the service… I'm never seen anything like this before. Its gruesome… even to me." Bryan stuttered a few times during the sentence, thus making his point even more apparent.

"What do you want to do boss? Should we head into the complex and see what's going on? Or should we retreat?" Jackie was reaching for her weapon as she spoke while Mei was jogging back towards the unit to grab what M4s that had put away.

"We'll enter, see what's up. If it seems like we're over our heads, we'll call in the military."

Bryan grabbed one of the M4s, running for the main entrance. Before he hit it he looked off to his right. A bright flash of red had caught his attention. He turned the corner, seeing two large vehicles sitting there.

He read off the side of them, four large letters glared at him in their bold white off the navy blue.

"FEAR." He whispered aloud, just as Bill came up behind him.

"Something is going on… FEAR is a military branch few of us really know that much about. I can tell you, however, it stands for First Encounter Assault Recon. Few years back, couple places got hit by things… unworldly by our standards. Security tapes showed spirits, ghosts, demons even - attacking people and places. Chances are, they're here because of something bad."

"Alright… but me and Brea have been blocking the main entrance since yesterday. And if what Mei says pans out - then how did they get here?"

"We can figure all that out later. Lets get inside, see what we are dealing with."

They had busted down the main entrance, clearing the first four hallways. Bodies were laying about everywhere. Some had the same gruesome effect like the one in the truck outside, a lucky few seemed to have been shot.

When they had entered the building, it had been warm. But now, they could each see their own breath. This added to the eerie affect of the place as it was. Blood was everywhere. It painted the walls with its respective species' color.

Jackie stopped suddenly, freezing completely in her movements. She was looking at a glass surface. Bryan backtracked to see what had caught her attention.

He stopped in shock as well. In the mirror just behind Jackie's image was another one. The black fur and ravage red eyes were staring at them. Right at them without any compassion what so ever.

"Police! Let me see your hands!" Jackie suddenly yelled, aiming her pistol at it. Feeling foolish for aiming at a mirror, Bryan did the same for support. The others soon caught up.

That thing was grinning at them now as its blood claws were now apparent.

"Hold your fire." Bryan called, watching it closely.

The thing disappeared as it allowed the mirror to play back the last moments of the FEAR team. Just at it ended, there was a low growl heard by them all, as something threw them down the hall, and out the door, slamming it shut behind them, blood dripping down from the top frame.

Jackie got to her feet before jolting to the side, throwing up anything she had eaten before their trip.

Brea just layed in the snow, looking strait up to the sky. Mei was taking deep breaths, trying to avoid the same ordeal Jackie just had, while Bill was the first back to his feet, trying to shake the images off as best he could.

Bryan had gotten onto all fours, crawling over to Brea.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked, giving her a few slaps on her cheek.

"I felt… I felt all their pain… their fear… they were scared to death Bryan… they had seen many things, but this… my god." She gasped before the tears came clinging onto him for what she thought would be sweet salvation.

"What are our orders?" Mei asked, staring back at the door, blood still seeping down it.

"Well something really, really doesn't want us in there. Best we can do is alert General Pepper… we just simply aren't equipped to handle this situation."

Bill was helping Jackie back to her feet while Mei followed close behind. Brea still refused to move, so Bryan had to sling his rifle over his shoulder, picking her up bridal style and carrying her back to the car.

It would be a long ride home.

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Back at the house, Bryan set Brea down in her bed, taking a step back. The girl was still shivering from fear. This had really gotten to her.

Bryan heard footsteps coming down the hall, he turned around just in time to see Krystal come into the room.

"Oh, my." She gasped, nearly pushing Bryan out of the way to get to Brea.

"You have seen something horrific… even for you." Krystal said, placing a paw on her forehead. "Oh my… I see now… you felt their pain… you poor baby…" She closed her eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath through the nose, before quickly leaning over the bed to throw up in the trash by the side.

Krystal leaned back up, taking another deep breath. "I've healed what I can… but I fear she many carry a scar forever." She whispered, shaking her head slightly.

"What did you do?" Bryan took a step forward, looking over Krystal's shoulder.

"I erased some of the images from her mind… but a few of them got too deep into her mind. Only time will heal those."

"Thanks." He offered, about to follow the blue vixen out of the room before he heard Brea called out to him.

"No… don't leave me here… please…"

He turned around, seeing tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

He was back at her side, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Just stay here… I don't want to be alone."

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"I cannot put her on active duty like that. She's too emotionally unstable." Bryan was talking to everyone else in the living room. He had waiting for Brea to fall asleep before calling a meeting with them.

"She saw the same things we saw… why is it affecting her the most? I always figured she was stronger than the rest of us." Mei was still trying to figure out what was going on herself.

"Death… should one ever return from it, they will fear its forms. Today… Brea came face to face with what she was fearing all along. From Kasey's death, to Brea's resurrection, she has yet to have to face the gate master herself. Today… she was forced to see him in his most hideous form." Krystal was right at home in her area of expertise. Life, death, and the circle in between was what she knew better than anyone else in that room.

"Gate master?" Falco asked, folding his arms over his chest.

"Yes. The gate master is the keeper of the keys to heaven and hell. From what I have been able to gather from her memories… you all saw his hell form. Its very rare for his hell form to appear to anyone. Though… I've been told that it comes before great losses are about to happen."

"So what? He predicts the apocalypse?" Fox asked, looking over to his mate.

"Something to that affect. Though, I have to admit, this is something new. He's never been known to actually interact, touch, the living. Never mind killing or taking over something before. This leads me to believe something is very wrong…"

"Really?" Jackie scoffed. "What was your first clue?"

Krystal ignored the comment, even if Jackie received several glares from those around her.

"No, you see… the gate keeper is a thing of numbers. He just hates it when they don't match up. He must be very, very angry to do what he has done… which can lead me to believe that many, many dead have been resurrected… though not to an extent like Brea was."

"Alright… I'll bite. If that's true - then why didn't he get mad when Brea came back? Wouldn't that throw off his numbers?"

"No. Brea was not forcefully brought back, which means that she never passed through his gate, but nearly… sat outside it. If someone were to bring back many, many dead, they would have to pull some from the depths beyond the gate-" Krystal was cut off by Dean.

"Thus seriously pissing off our resident grim reaper. Alright… now what?"

"Well… there is not much we can do. Unfortunately, until Brea gets better, we'll be down a crew member."

"I'm fine!" Brea's voice yelled from the stairway. They all turned to see her standing there, glaring at them. "Never consider me weak."

"We are not saying that you are weak. We are saying that you need some time." Jackie offered, standing to help her down the stairs. Brea shrugged her off.

"What I saw… what I felt… what I know… I can deal with it. I will learn to deal with it."

"And until you do, you will remain here."

"But Bryan I-"

"That's an order, Brea. I won't have you getting killed because you hesitated because you got scared. Until I deem you fit for patrol, you will remain here."

Brea growled, heading back up the stairs. Bryan followed her.

He stopped outside her door, hearing sobbing coming from inside. He stepped in silently, coming up behind her.

"Brea?"

"You don't know how scared I was… seeing things through their eyes… feeling what they felt. And… I keep telling myself that I won't let it affect my job, or me! But… how do you forget something like that?"

She was looking at him in the reflection of her mirror. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she spun to face him, quickly pulling him into an embrace, crying into his bullet proof vest.

"You don't forget it Brea… it's like your first kill… you just need time and you'll be back to normal. I promise you… you'll be fine soon."

He was trying to comfort her, wrapping both his arms around her to add to the attempt.

"I'm scared, Bryan."

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"Sir?"

"Yes… what is it?"

"Well its just… we have finished our testing… it was a complex success."

"Good. Proceed with out plans."  
"As you wish."


	4. Death in its Most Hideous Form

"The entire team?" Pepper was astounded at the news. "No survivors at all?"

"Well… that's just it, General. We weren't able to get too deep into the complex. Someone… or rather, _something_ attacked us, threw us out of the door."

"So… F.E.A.R. is no more. What about the complex? Can it be saved?"

"Well… I would like to assemble a team. Get back in there and see what we can find. There has to be some sort of survivor or something."

"Alright… what do you need?"

"A few of my men are unfit to get in there due to the events that took place inside…" Bryan continued. "If I could borrow a few from M-TAC or maybe a few F.E.A.R. trainees."

"Granted. I will give you sixteen from M-TAC and the only ten F.E.A.R. trainees we have. You can go and hand pick them yourself." Pepper said, signing a few papers handing them over to Bryan. "Bring these to my secretary. She will call them as necessary."

"Thank you."

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"What? Bryan! I am going with you!"

Another world war was about to start. Brea had found out through Dracous that he was going back to the CFFL complex. And worst yet, he was taking Dean, Falco, and Fox with him.

"Absolutely not Brea. I can't risk you freezing up. What if something happens to someone because of it! Or worse - what if something happens to you."

"I have nothing to fear but fear itself. I can face it!"

"Maybe you can." Bryan admitted, shaking his head. "But not today."

"Damn it, Bryan-"

"I said no, Brea! I don't care if I have to pull rank on you! You will not go!"

Brea was taken back. Bryan had never pulled rank on any of them before. Not since as long as she had known him. "Fine!" She huffed, putting her paws on her hips. "But at least give me access to the helmet cams. I want to be able to see what you are seeing."

"No Brea."

"But its not like I could put anyone in danger!"

"Except yourself! You heard what Krystal told us. You will not be going, you will not be monitoring! I don't care if I lock you in your room while we are away! You will have nothing to do with F.E.A.R. or the complex. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir." Brea sighed. He had never been like this before, but she took it as a glass half-full situation. At least he cared.

"Good. Now I have to go." He sighed again. "Look… take a few days - two weeks max - off. Get yourself back together and then we'll talk… or, better yet - why not go to Military HQ and design us a new unit? I'm going to need mine replaced since we totaled it."

Her eyes brightened up. "Can I dip into the new budget?"

"Fine… but no more than one million. Got it?"

"Yes!"

"And take Krystal with you. I don't want you pulling any tricks."

"But Krystal doesn't know anything about mechanics. Can't I take Mei?"

"No. I know how you two are. Take Krystal, she won't pull what you two would."

"But she doesn't know what I might need help with."

"So then teach her. She's a quick learner."

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Bryan was staring at the door again, the blood that they had seen dripping down it was now dried and cracked. C2 charges were placed around it, knocking it down so they could enter.

"Alright, now keep on your guard guys. They could still be here." Bryan warned, noticing that the lights on the F.E.A.R. units had died out.

They were back at the mirror. The evil image was gone, all that it showed now was reflections. The smell of blood was beyond over powering.

"Anyone feeling faint, report it ASAP. We don't need the surprise." One of the element leaders, Kyle actually, called out. They stopped at a four way intersection. The signs all the ways had long since had a spray of blood over them - no use trying to read them now.

"Alright, you're leading this operation. What do you want to do?" Kyle asked Bryan, readjusting his helmet slightly.

"Well… four ways… six teams…" He looked down each path. One of them split into another intersection of two.

"Alright. Two teams down that way, take separate paths. One team per hall after that. We'll take your team Kyle with us. Intel says there should be another split down that way."

Each nod and radio check was quickly followed by the teams going their separate ways. They must have went through four separate pathways, finding each littered with bodies in various states of disarray. They came to a lobby-like setting, finding more bodies this time. Though a few were dressed differently than just the lab coats.

They stopped at those, each were dressed in black cameo with body armor. Fox caught the glimpse of a white letter poking out, he pulled a piece of cloth off of his own vest, whipping some of the blood away to read the rest of the letters.

"Looks like we found the F.E.A.R. team." He said, looking over his shoulders at the others.

"Any survivors?" Dean asked, standing back up.

"Not a pulse among them." Kyle stated, turning to look around the room entirely.

"Man… this is one hell of a gory mess." It was Falco's turn to comment.

"Oh yah. Come on, lets keep moving. See if we can't clear the rest of the way." Bryan said, jolting his head in the direction he wanted to move.

"_This is Delta One. We've reached the end of our area. No survivors or anything creepy. Orders?"_

"Yah, track down Delta Two. Meet up with them and help them clear."

"_Copy, Delta One to Delta Two - what's your twenty?"_

There was a moment of silence.

"Come on guys… answer them back."

"_Delta One to Delta Two - what is your twenty?"_

"_Delta Three to Delta Two - do you copy any message?"_

"Lead to Delta One. Follow Delta Two's path. See if you can find them." Bryan called over the radio.

"_Copy Lead. Moving to locate."_

"_Delta Three to Lead. We're clear here. Orders?"_

"Move with Delta One. Find Delta Two."

"_Copy."_

"Come on, lets get moving guys." Bryan said, waiting for them to meet up behind him.

They walked down a few more hallways, stopping every so often when a creepy noise would catch their attention.

Bryan was about to open a double door when a giggle caught his attention. The rest of the team must have heard it because they all stopped and looked around.

"Hello? Police! Come on out!"

Another giggle became the response.

"Stop playing games! Come out now!" Kyle yelled, still searching with his eyes.

The giggling stopped and was replaced by a low growl.

"Way to go Kyle, you pissed it off." Fox grunted on his breath, taking a step back.

Bryan took a step back too, realizing that the growl was coming from behind the doors in front of him, even if the clear glass on them allowed him to see that no one was there.

He took one last step back before the lights in the hallway went out and a bright flash came from behind the doors, illuminating a silhouette before the doors blew open - or more like up - as glass fragments pelted the agents.

Bryan and Fox, being the two closest were blown back and landed on the floor with a hard thud. Both quickly scrambled to their feet, backing away from the door.

"Holy shit… tell me you guys saw that…" It was one of Kyle's men.

"Everyone okay?" Dean asked, watching Bryan brush some glass off of him while Fox picked some from his fur.

"I'm alright." Fox responded, holding his weapon up.

"Just peachy." Bryan huffed, putting his helmet back on. "Think before you piss off any more spirits Kyle."

"Yes, sir."

The doors swung shut when Bryan was about to try again to pass through them, and to add to the already creepy feeling, the giggling started again.

"Don't say a word Kyle." Falco warned.

Either way, the giggling stopped when another voice started to whisper and hiss.

"Kill them all."

"_Delta One to Lead. We have located Delta Two… they're all dead, sir."_

"What? How?"

"_Don't know. But there is a big hole in the wall. Want us to investigate?"_

"Negative. Hold and wait for Delta Three."

"_Copy."_

Bryan was trying to monitor the radio and still keep his eyes peeled for anything willing to carry out the voices' order.

"Flash bang!" Someone yelled from the back of the line, causing everyone to turn around just as the silver canister rolled into the room.

"Take cover!"

"Down!"

Bryan found a table and quickly turned it over as plasma shots nailed the wall right where he would have been standing.

"Open fire!" Kyle yelled out, taking shots where he could before pulling back to cover.

Bryan caught a glance of the attackers. They were wearing silver uniforms covered in armor. You couldn't see their faces because their helmets were polarized. But whoever they were, they were smart. Calling out orders to flank and fire, Bryan moved from his position, nailing two shots to the chest on one of them.

The attacker stumbled back before firing again.

"Headshots only guys! Shoot to kill!" Bryan called.

"No shit?" Dean yelled back, firing four shots from his M4.

Bryan became prone to the floor, crawling to the edge of his cover, firing off six shots before rolling back to it.

The shooting came to a sudden halt. Bryan poked his head out to see that what was left of the attackers was just standing there, weapons at their sides.

"Uh… what the hell?" Falco watched them curiously.

Without so much as a twitch the bodies just dropped to the ground, almost like rag dolls.

"Alright, what the fuck is going on here!"

"_Delta Three to Delta One - where are you guys?"_

"_Delta One? Delta One? Delta Three to Lead - Delta One has fallen off the radar."_

Bryan looked around him. No one from his side had suffered losses, but with one team dead and another team missing, this mission wasn't look too hot.

"Lead to Delta One. Do you copy?"

Everyone near him yelped in pain as a signal broke in over their radios. Bryan pulled his from his ear quickly.

"That's it, we're out of here." Bryan said, turning around. All the doors were locked.

"Lead to all Deltas. Retreat to your exits. We're leaving now."

"_Copy. Moving to leave. Delta Three, out."_

"_Delta Four. We're clear. Moving to exit."_

"We're with you chief." Kyle reported.

"Call out your exits guys. Go to your units."

"_Copy."_

"_Copy."_

Bryan looked around him.

"All the doors are locked, sir. We can't seem to break them down either." One of Kyle's people reported.

"Keep trying." Kyle ordered, moving to help them.

Bryan walked up to Fox who was helping Falco try to break down another door.

"It won't work. Something wants to keep us in here." He said. "Wait… Kyle!"

"Yah?" Kyle hustled his way to Bryan's location.

"Pull up that map of the complex." He said, watching Kyle use his wrist communication device to pull up a map. Pointing at the red flashing dots. "We're here… got something in mind?"

Perfect! They were in a room with an 'out-side' wall.

"Dean! Load out a forty-four." Bryan said, pulling one from his own ammo supply.

"Grenades, Bryan? Honestly."

Bryan pounded the wall with his fist. "This wall leads outside. You wanna be stuck here?"

"Not a chance in all hell." Dean responded, loading up his M4.

"Guys! Down! Get to cover!" Kyle called, pulling a few of his men away from the doors.

Bryan clicked back his trigger, launching the projectile at the wall in time with Dean's launch. Both grenades impacted the wall, blasting a large enough hole in it for them to get through. The cool winter air filtered through the wall.

"Move! Move!"

Bryan was helping agents go through the hole in the wall, being the last one out himself, just before the wall closed back up.

"Man… lets not do that again." He said, sitting up.

"_Delta Three, we're clear. At the command post."_

"_Delta Four. Clear. Sitting with Delta Three."_

"Load up. Lets go."

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"What do you mean you couldn't salvage it?"

"General, we made it half way through the complex. We lost two teams and were attacked by something."

"What do you mean?"

"We cleared every room systematically. Something came from behind us! That doesn't happen. Not only that, but they didn't even seem… real! There is something there that does not want us there at all."

"So that's it?"

"That is all we can do for now. The CFF labs are lost."

General Pepper sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Something is really wrong here…"

Bryan was in such a trance with his own thoughts, that the intercom buzzer made him jump slightly. _"Sir, the crew is here."_

Bryan growled. "Talk about timing."

"Now listen… we can try and push this back. If you and your team want some time to get yourselves together after what just happened, I'm sure they would understand."

Bryan shook his head. "No, no… they wouldn't just lay still at all. Having a camera crew around would make them think twice before taking off on one of our famous stunts."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Alright… send them in."

The doors swung open as four guys carrying cameras and a women with a note book strode into the room. She bowed down to the General before straightening her suit.

"Melinda Alba, at your service."

"Wow… lost reporter I ever saw was trying to get into our offices." Bryan commented, amused that he had met a reporter that, as of yet, didn't seem all that intrusive.

"I am no reporter. Reporters are slime, bent on nothing but ratings. I, on the other hand, base everything on fact and never twist the story. Ratings or no."

Bryan raised an brow to General Pepper. "Is she for real?"

"Who are you to talk about me like that?" Melinda snapped at him, ears twitching in annoyance.

"Melinda, meet Officer Bryan Daniels. You'll be shadowing his team for the next month."

"Oh… my apologies, sir. I did not know."

"None necessary." He assured her, standing as a sign of respect. "General Pepper told me you would be with us for the next month?"

"Yes. Our goal is to show the public what you deal with on a daily basis. What your home life is like, things like that."

"Anything else?"

"Just the occasional interview, that is all."

"Fair enough." Bryan stated, turning to General Pepper. "I take it they'll be following me home?"

"Yup. Oh! Swing by Brea's desk on the way out. She said she got the new car off the line already."

"That was fast."

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"Let me guess… that you Bryan?" Brea asked, not even turning away from the circuit board in front of her. "You know, Krystal isn't all that bad to deal with when it comes to mechanics. Must of learned a few things from Slippy." She said, turning around.

"Hello… who are you people?" She asked, getting up and stepped in front of one of the camera men who was getting 'too close' to one of her toys. "Can I help you?" She asked, forcing him to take an uneasy step back as she stepped in close.

"Easy Brea. It's the camera crew that Pepper said we had to deal with for a month."

"Oh… well not here! He said nothing about my labs! Out!" She ushered the four camera crew members out of the room, turning to the last remaining women. "You too! Out!"

"Brea, take it easy. Come on, lets go home anyway."

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Bryan sighed, the ride home was long - and that was only because Brea kept looking over her shoulder to see if they were still following them.

"They aren't going away." He was amused that she didn't take kindly to cameras. Then again, it was just one more thing that made her the reincarnated Kasey.

Once they got inside and the crew had set stuff up they sat Bryan down in a corner of the living room, right under the bright light of the camera.

"Alright, since you're the leader, why don't we interview you first?"

"Well… ok."

"So, what sets your team apart from any other military unit?"

"Well for one thing… we don't operate under the same standards that a tactical or even special operations unit would. We run under what we call strict freelance. We train our officers to the breaking point. There is never a doubt in any of their minds about their plan of action. Yet, we still allow them to assess each situation. Maybe something needs a more unconventional approach. After all, every situation is different."

"Ok… what made you want to be a DCTU agent?"

"To be honest, I never applied. Before DCTU I spent my time at the local shooting range. I worked there for some time, took my lunch breaks shooting off rounds at the targets before going back to help out first timers and people like that. I was just approached one day by a military recruiter. He told me he had been watching my shooting and that he was impressed. Few weeks later, there I was, top of the chain and running my own agency."

"What about the others? How did they get into the business?"

Bryan had opened his mouth to answer, though stopped when he heard a shrill, blood curdling scream rip through the house.

He was on his feet in seconds, reaching for his holster while running for where the sound had come from. It had come from one of the bathrooms. He had jiggled the handle to get it open, but no luck. Clearly hearing the shower running he knew someone was in there.

"You okay in there? Hello?"

He heard a whimper just as Bill and Falco came running for the door. "What's going on? We heard that all the way from the armory!"

"I don't know." Bryan admitted, taking a step back, placing the heel of his combat boot squarely to the area just above the knob, knocking the door off its lock. He jumped into the room without a thought looking around he spotted Jackie huddled in a corner of the room, towel drawn close around her.

"You ok?" He asked, holstering his weapon. She just pointed to one of the mirrors.

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"Well what do you think? Think she'll like it?" Krystal had just finished explaining her gift for Lindsay to Brea while they sat at the food court at the mall. "Sounds nice. She should really go for it." Brea grinned. "So, what did you get Fox?"

Krystal adverted her eyes a little, making the cat's grin wider.

"Come off it. Lets see."

"Well, we were out to dinner the other night and we passed this store. He stopped by one of the windows and looked at something before moving along with me. To be honest, I only knew he had stopped because he had grabbed my paw when he met back up with me. Next day while he was out I went down to go see what he was looking at."

"And?"

"It was a newer model super charger for certain class crafts. And as it would so happen, our Arwings fall into that class."

"Boys and toys, eh?"

"Yah, no kidding."

"_Brea, you copy?"_

Brea looked at her radio, sighing as Bill's voice called out from beyond its speaker.

"Yah Bill, what's up?"

"_We're calling everyone back to the house. Something's up."_

"What's going on?"

"_I'll explain later. Just high-tail your way back here. Grab Krystal too."_

"Got it."

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Bryan tossed down the pictures onto the table as the last two missing members shuffled in. The agents as Star Fox crew crowded around the table while the camera crew was trying to stand on various objects to see over them.

"What is it?" Katt asked, turning it around to face her.

"That was taken twenty minutes ago. See if you can't make out the letters in the blood."

There was a pause for a moment before one of them whispered it out loud.

"Death is coming…"

"Exactly. I don't know how this happened, but either someone or some_thing_ got into the house."

"Did you check the cameras?" Brea asked, looking harder at the picture.

"Our cameras didn't catch anything."

"Melinda!" One of the crew called out. "You should take a look at this." She disappeared for a moment, heading out to their on-scene editing bus. She returned a moment later, looking white as a ghost.

"You guys might want to see this."

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They took up various spots in the giant bus, all staring at the set of monitors lining the wall. "Alright, it's Bryan's face." Mei stated, looking at the paused image.

"Right, but now watch it." One of the crew responded, pushing the play button.

"…_after all, every situation is different."_ Just Bryan had finished his sentence, in the doorway off to his far left you could see a figure covered in blood walk passed the open door and towards the bathroom.

"No one saw that during filming?" Melinda asked. Each of her crew shook their heads.

The film was still running and just before the scream was heard the figure walked into the room they were filming in and walked right to the camera just as the Gate Keeper's face flashed on the screen and it went blank.

"That's all there is. If you continue to watch you see various messages written in blood that seem to just appear on the tape. We're sure this wasn't a joke and no one put anything on or in that camera. I check it myself." The tech advisor said, spinning around in his chair.

"So what ever it is, is in our house?" Dean asked, looking strait at the monitors.

"Yes, sir. Seems that way."

"Just great."

"Alright well… give that camera and that film to Brea." Bryan said, turning to face her. "If you think you can handle it without scaring yourself, go through the footage, look for stuff that can tell as what's going on. Rip that camera apart and see if its been tampered with."

"Got it."

"As for the rest of us? Lets just try and not spook ourselves. In fact… Katt and Fox. Take Krystal through the house. See if maybe she can detect a few wondering spirits or other things amiss."

"On it." Katt said, turning to leave.

"Be careful you guys, we do not know what this thing is capable of."

"I'll be ok and I will find out what's going on."

"And I'll protect Krystal."

"And I'll keep an eye on Fox."

Bryan nodded. "I'm heading off to base. See if I can't get some research done."

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He was staring at the papers he had in front of him. The blood sample that had been collected from the house had been matched to a twenty-six year old murder, unsolved.

What worse, the report continued on to say that the blood cells had been dead for twenty-four years. Suggesting that the blood was from something long since dead.

"Creepy as hell." Bryan whispered, leaning back in the chair at his desk, thinking back to the soldiers they had run into at the CFFL complex. They had all seemed linked, even beyond intelligent. Something somewhere else was controlling them.

And again, what about the questionable deaths of the Delta One team and the disappearance of Delta Two. Nothing seemed to be adding up to any equation he had ever seen.

He sighed, rubbing his already tired eyes.

"I just don't get it. And it isn't even like we can go back there and investigate. It's just too risky, even for us."

His phone rang, stirring him from his thought process. He composed himself, after all, he was supposed to be professional when at the base.

"DCTU, Bryan here."

"_Hey it's Dracous. We did from recon from what we could pull off the helmet cams from Kyle's team. We located the patches off the soldiers you guys took out. They're an old team from thirty some-odd years ago. Wiped out when a bomb went off during an Hostage rescue. However, they weren't part of the military - more like a police based version of our M-TAC."_

"Alright… so dead soldiers are killing us?" Bryan blinked a few times. Had he really gone off the deep end. He decided he wouldn't put in as many long hours as he normally did after today.

"_Well that's just it. We can't tell since the helmets were in the way of the faces… but by the way they were acting, looks that way. I pulled some records and found out that FEAR had been dispatched there when a lab tech reported hearing random moaning noises. It was the climax to what had already been a weird week. Things moving around. Cars starting up and moving out to the main road. Lights going out, even doors licking and unlocking themselves. At first they called the system admin to make sure it wasn't an AI problem, after finding out that it wasn't they waited another day before calling for FEAR."_

"Bill told me FEAR was First Encounter Assault Recon - a paramilitary force designed to carry out calls based on paranormal attacks. What else can you tell me?"

"_That's all there really is to know. They were lead by Aurora McKenzie. Feisty little vixen too. Or at least she was."_

"Before their raid on CFFL, right?"

"_Well that's just it. The day of the raid she was never accounted for. M-TAC was called out to her house today to check in on her. Found nothing, not a thing. The place had been wiped down. They put out an APB no more than twenty minutes ago - reporting her as a missing persons."_

"Anything else?"

"_Not on this end. However, Jillian wanted to have a word with you when I got a hold of you. Hold on, patching you through."_

"_twenty-seven-thirty-eight. Clear."_

"Bryan from DCTU. Heard you wanted to chat."

"_Just who I was going to see too. Listen, Dracous pinned your tags on those soldiers in the CFFL complex, right? Well, when we pulled from SATLink stuff for a raid on a suspected terrorist complex, we found some interesting things."_

"Like?"

"_Something along the lines of any military forces' worst nightmare. We saw, lined up, thousands of soldiers. Judging by their stance and what we could make out from the images, they are either really disciplined or all clones."_

"What's your opinion?"

"_In all my years I've seen some crazy stuff. For all I know, they're clones."_

"Thanks Jill."

"_Hey any time. Gotta go, back on duty."_

Bryan clicked the phone back into its holder.

Paramilitary? Cloned soldiers? This was too much, he needed the team in now.

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"Krystal found no more spirits in the house, Boss. She put up a barrier as well so they can't come back."

"Good." Bryan said, turning away from the large display screen in order to face the team. He had set it up so that it showed the entire complex zoomed out. He would tap a key and it would highlight an area in zoom into it.

"We have some more information on what we saw at the CFFL complex. M-TAC pulled some SATLink footage for a raid and passed it on to us." He said, tapping the first key. It zoomed to show the rows and rows of lined of soldiers. "What you see here, is thousands of soldiers. Origin is unknown, but they appear to mean business. However, we can't raid the place. Even if we pulled people from every branch of the military we have at our disposal, we would still be out numbered. And, we can't pull a stealth entry as the place is beyond heavily guarded. Only thing we can do is get a recon team put together and spy on the place for a few days. Learn a pattern and use that to attack." He finished, letting it zoom back out to the full view.

"What about the Sierra Missile Complex. Can't they launch against it?" Fox asked, walking up and watching the main screen.

"It is something we will have to look into." Bryan admitted. "We'll also need clearance from General Pepper and General Wayne. I know Pepper would do it, but I've never met with Wayne. Only got his name since he runs that place."

"Right."

"Well that forces a problem on us." Bill began. "It's the day before Christmas eve. The Military Base was closed for the holidays an hour ago and as such, General Wayne is long as his way towards his vacation destination. Only contact we have with him is though General Pepper, but even so, he's going to want a full explanation in person."

"So when do they reopen?" Mei asked.

"Two days after." Fox answered, turning around to look back at the house.

"So we're S.O.L. until after then." Jackie finished, jumping from the first step of the bus. The others followed her after a few moments.

A few hours passed and the group had seemed to calm down, of course, they all slept in the living room that night.

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Fox blinked a few times. He wasn't sure how, but he could see himself. He was facing a broken window. A handgun was still in his paw and he appeared to be breathing heavily. The room was splattered in different colors of blood and bodies dressed in tactical gear were laying about. His body didn't even turn around is the door behind him burst open and the DCTU team rushed in.

Bryan had been the first one in, his concentration was fierce as he looked around, only seeing Fox standing there, he lowered the barrel of the rifle slightly. "Fox?"

It was now that the Star Fox leader noticed that Brea, Falco, and Krystal weren't among those that had entered.

"They all deserved it."

"Fox," Bryan continued. "You aren't stable, I need you to drop that gun."

"They all deserved it."

"Fox, come on pal, just put it down. Then you can tell us all about it."

He turned around, staring back at the team.

"But you don't understand." He pled again. "They all deserved it."

"You did a good job Fox. Just put it down."

He let go of the gun. Fox, the one watching the scene, watched it fall to the ground in slow motion, hearing the clink as it landed on the floor.

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The sun was shining in through one of the windows and directly into Fox's face. He groaned, about to roll over when he felt someone pressed against his side. He opened his eyes finding that he was still in the living room, and not in that torn up place he had seen in his dreams. And what was better? He had woken up with Krystal in his arms - the best way to dispel any remaining horror from his dream.

He wasn't the first one up though, Falco and Katt were gone and Brea was sitting up in her chair with a cup of coffee and a newspaper in her paws. Everyone else was still asleep in their respective spots.

He used his free paw to rub his eyes before softly setting Krystal to the ground and sitting up, stretching his aching muscles. "Hey, you're up." Brea said, looking over the top of her paper.

"Yup. Where's Katt and Falco?"

"Falco is making more coffee and Katt is in the shower."

Fox yawned, rolling onto all fours before getting up. He rubbed his eyes again before stumbling into the kitchen, grabbing the first mug he could find to fill with coffee. He jumped slightly when he heard Brea burst out laughing in the other room. He poked his head out of the door to see Bryan laying face down on the floor, grumbling about something.

"Thought you were in your bed, commander?" Brea teased.

"Keep talking you, just remember who's paying for stuff today."

Brea just kept laughing at him. "Fine, fine." He grumbled.

"Morning." Falco greeted, handing over a mug of coffee to Bryan. "Thanks."

Katt strode in, talking Falco's mug right out of his hands and downing the rest of the his coffee before putting the mug back into his hands. Bryan and Fox chuckled while Falco glared at them. "Looks like she has you trained." Fox commented, turning around to head back into the kitchen.

Bryan looked around to see who was still asleep. Even the camera crew was out.

"What time do you want to take off?" He asked Brea.

"Any time before they," she said, pointing at the TV crew. "wake up. Don't want them following us around all day."

He nodded back at her, turning towards the stairs. "Just let me hit the shower and we'll be on our way."

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"It's beautiful." Krystal cooed. The two foxes had ended up at the park in time for a morning snow fall. The winter storm had let up over the past week so that Christmas eve, and hopefully Christmas too, became beautiful with white snow on the ground, and drifting to the ground from trees and the sky.

They were sitting on a park bench with Fox cradling her against his shoulder. It would have been a completely romantic scene if it wasn't for the holsters still attached to their hip. Hey, terrorists attack on holidays too!

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"It feels weird to actually be able to sit somewhere without dispatch yelling about some emergency." Mei commented, sitting down in the theater seat. Bill shushed her. "Careful, don't want to jinx it." He told her, grinning.

"_Dispatch to all units."_

"Just great." Mei sighed, holding it up for them to hear.

"Look at what you did." Bill growled slightly, annoyed that they had to leave the theater.

"_Have a Merry Christmas. Keep it safe guys."_

The two looked at each other before bursting out laughing.

"_Almost made me think we had a call out. Same to you."_ Jackie's voice came back over the radio.

"_Nice dispatch. Not fair, but nice."_ Bryan was calling in now.

Mei turned her radio down as the lights in the room dimmed and the movie began.

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Bryan set the radio back in the cradle.

"Funny." Brea mused, turning to look behind them. "Do you see what I see?"

"Bright red van? Yup. Looks like the crew is tailing us."

Bryan took on a grin while Brea made sure her seatbelt was tight. He sped up slightly at first, before falling back for a stop sign. He waited for the van to catch up with them at the sign before taking off, speeding up greatly he made a large gap between him and the van. He took a sharp corner before quickly turning the wheel the other way, pulling into an alley he shut off his lights and killed the engine.

No more than ten seconds later, the red van went speeding past. Bryan counted a few more seconds before starting the car back up, backing out, and heading in the opposite direction.

"It'll take them a minute before they realize what happened. Lets try and get as far as possible by then." Brea said, looking behind them. Bryan just grinned, pulling into a parking lot a few blocks later, parking behind the building and away from prying crew eyes.

They walked into the restaurant and took a seat, content enjoying the day together.

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"We will attack on Christmas day. No one will expect that. Better yet, we will attack again the very next day at the girl's concert. Another unexpected attack."

"Very good boss, but… what are you planning?"

"It is simple… our first attack will be on DCTU itself. Bring it to its knees. We will attack one of them. And when the public thinks its over? We will attack at the show. Hundreds will be killed in the second attack."

"What now sir?"

"Get the things ready. We'll plant tonight!"


	5. Above and Beyond the Law

"I'm not sure I understand. How are we going to hurt them, sir?"

"It's simple. Their leader seems to have a thing for his partner. If we hurt her, we hurt him. Cut the head off the body - the body is useless."

"I'm not sure this will work. What about the rest of that team? They have proven they are strong even without him."

"That's simple too. Brea and Mei are like lost sisters, Mei will undoubtedly be disturbed by the attack. Dean and Jackie will be left, and they are no match for us."

"I still don't like it, sir. This is DCTU we are talking about. Going after one of their own? That's suicide!"

"Do not question me. Just get moving."

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Wrapping paper was all over the living room floor. They had already done the gifts and were now sitting back laughing and having a good time. Brea excused herself for a moment, going to put her gift into the unit her and Bryan shared. Just in time for the phone to ring and Krystal to grab it since she was close.

"Happy Holidays. Krystal here."

"_Krystal? Thank god!"_

"Teresa? What's wrong?"

"_My manager received a letter today. It's a threat saying that if I play today I'll be killed during or after the show. Its been signed by Aramov."_

Krystal frowned. "You might want to talk to Bryan about this one." She said, handing the phone over to him. He glanced at her for a moment before talking.

"Hello?"

"_I really could use your help."_

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Brea opened the cargo door on the unit, rummaging around in the back before finding what she was looking for.

"Excuse me, miss, could you help me for a moment?" A voice asked her from behind.

"I'm sorry, sir. But I am really quite busy at the moment."

"Please, it will only take a moment."

She put her new toy down and sighed, turning around to face whoever was talking to her. Whoever it was struck her in the face and she fell backwards, landing hard on the inside of the unit's cargo area.

She groaned slightly, moving to sit up when she was held down by her shoulders.

"What are you doing! Get off of me!" She yelled, only to have something stuffed in her mouth. Se struggled for a moment before another blow to her head nearly knocked her out.

She gasped slightly feeling a claw move down her clothing. Her mind started to panic.

'_Oh gods!'_ Her mind screamed.

She stopped struggling for a moment while her mind struggled for a way to get out of his grasp. Then it hit her. It was an unexpected movement so her attacker didn't have time to stop it. Her paw shot out and reached for the tazer they kept a few inches away from her head. She grabbed it, but had it knocked out of her hand. She growled in frustration. She just had to get out of this situation before it went too far.

She was about to try again when she heard a loud noise and her attacker went limp. She opened her eyes to see Falco pulling the guy off of her when Bryan was holstering his weapon. He pulled the cloth from her mouth before pulling her into a sitting position.

"You ok?" He asked, looking over his shoulder briefly.

Brea groaned slightly, leaning against his shoulder. "Just fine. My head hurts though."

"Well get you some medication. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'll be fine. He didn't get a chance to do anything to me. I'll be fine… thanks guys."

"She okay?" Falco asked, coming up behind Bryan.

"She's fine. Just a headache."

Brea pushed onto her feet, walking from the unit to the house. Bryan watched her leave before turning to Falco.

"Think she's really okay?" He asked, turning back to watch her leave.

"I'd say that's a call only she can make." The avian responded, turning to look back at the wounded attacker. "I'll call the medics."

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"You sure you're up to this?" Bryan asked again, turning on his left signal.

"I said I'm fine!" Brea growled, glaring at him.

"Alright, alright." He sighed, looking in his mirrors.

Brea herself turned to look out the window again, repeated her own military creed in order to remind herself that stupid stuff wasn't supposed to bother her.

She stopped when she felt Bryan shake her shoulder.

"We're here." He said, opening his door. She took a deep breath, getting out of the car.

"Alright guys, lets get inside and talk to a few people. We'll also be having crew profiles uploaded into these," he said, holding up a pair of what looked like eye glasses. "if you see someone backstage, these will identify them. If they're not on the crew list, pull them. Understood?"

Just as he finished his speech, a red van pulled up.

"Damn it." Fox cursed. "I was hoping they didn't follow us. We really don't need the extra confusion."

"How do they always find us?" Krystal asked under her breath.

"Simple." Melinda retorted, pulling a black box out from under Mei's unit. "We tracked you."

"Oh, son of a… let me deck her! Please?" Brea whined, turning to open the cargo hold of their unit.

Bryan just walked up to the reporter. "Pull another stunt like that and I will see to it that you are thrown in jail. New budget or no. Understood?"

She was taken back slightly by his threat, but nodded dumbly.

"Good." Bryan hissed. "We're heading in."

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"No cameras!" Teresa's manger yelled as the team entered the building. She went after the camera crew first, before running ahead to block Bryan's path. "And what do you think you're doing? Leave now!"

Teresa poked her head out the door her manger was blocking to see who she was yelling at now. "Maria that is enough!" Teresa growled, opening the door wider. "You keep trying to push them away! Will you leave them be, they're only here to help!"

"I do not approve." Maria growled back. "I don't trust them."

Teresa sighed. "They only want to help. Leave them be."

Defeated once again, Maria growled, walking off to yell at the camera crew some more.

"Wow… she _really_ doesn't like us." Mei whistled, turning to face Teresa again.

"I'm so glad you guys can make it. Aramov doesn't make threats without acting on them. I know she's up to something." Teresa began, leading them to a large break room.

"Any reason why should we target you?" Dean asked, taking a seat and putting his feet up on the table.

"Other than the fact I know too much about her? Can't really think of anything else."

"What do you know that could hurt her bad enough that she would want to kill you?" Bryan asked, leaning on a wall.

"I know her face… her name… I know what she is capable of. I know her markings, he clan, her ex. Just about everything!"

"Sounds like a good enough reason to me." Fox stated, looking out a window that allowed them to look over the stage. "What do you guys want to do?" He asked, turning to face the rest of the team.

"Well… this place is way too large for us to cover on our own. Any chance we can pull you into protective custody until we take down Aramov?"

"As much as I would love that… tonight is completely sold out - and I couldn't do that to the fans."

"How many places do you have after this?"

"Nothing until after New Years. And those haven't started selling tickets yet."

"Alright, we'll coordinate security tonight and after the show we'll pull you into PC. Think you can cancel the rest of your appearances until after a little while?" Bryan said, reaching for his radio.

"Why not… it'll give me time to sit and think up more songs anyway."

"We've got three hours until the show starts." Falco said. "What can we cook up before then?"

"Well the first step would be to sweep the seats, rooms - basically every inch of this place." Mei stated.

"And even after that, this place is way too large for us to be able to cover on our own." Jackie restated. Katt took a step forward. "Brea, why don't you call your team down and Bryan, why don't you call M-TAC."

"Sounds like a plan." Dean said, eating some of the food on the table.

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"_Everyone is reporting an all clear. I've got vitals green for everyone. You guys are set to go."_ Bill was working base duty for this mission.

"Sure you don't have your hands full, Bill. You've got two kids there and you're monitoring us." Brea talked into her speaker, looking around the stage.

"_I'm fine. James is working on homework before taking a shower and watching a movie with Lindsay. She's too busy playing with that gaming system you got her to really do much of anything else."_

"_Glad to see she likes it."_ Krystal broke in.

"_Hey guys… I'm receiving an old transmitter signal breaking into your vitals… well, not so much breaking in as its creating an extra slot."_ Bill reported.

Bryan looked at Brea from across the stage and then up into the box seats over to Falco and Dean who were clearing up there.

"_It's a really old signal. Hasn't been used since… hell Andross' days."_ Bill continued.

"Think you can decode it?" Bryan asked, heading for the back hallways.

"_Working on it. I can pin where its coming from though. Hold on… alright, Bryan and Brea - you guys are in the northern main hallway. Fox and Krystal are in the hallway parallel to your left. The main hallway is right in front of you. It's coming from there."_

Bryan and Brea picked up speed knowing that Krystal and Fox were already at a face paced run. They hit the main hall just in time to look and see a shadow going around the corner and into one of the darker hallways.

"Hey! Hey, you!" Brea called, chasing after the figure with the rest of the team. They turned the corner to see a long hallway, lit with lights that looked almost like utility lanterns that were strung up along the floor lining. A cool breeze seemed to pass through the hallway is Bill's voice interrupted the silence.

"_That was weird. The signal beacon turned a corner and just… disappeared."_

"Bill, pull up some kind of records of this place. Anything public or private." Bryan said.

"_I'm on it."_

Meanwhile, they looked at the hallway. "You know… a year ago I would have ran down this thing without a second thought." He started. "But now… shit, I'm not sure."

Brea looked over to her vixen teammate. "Sense anything?"

"I'm not sure… a lot of things are coming to me right now. I sense nothing pure evil… but something is here."

"I don't get it." Bryan began, starting to walk down the hallway, still treading lightly.

The others followed him.

"_Hey guys, signals up again… its behind you this time."_

They turned around to catch the shadow once again.

"_Guys, what the fuck is going on up there?"_ Dean was yelling at them now.

"Uh… hold that thought." Fox replied. Turning the corner and finding the hallway clear again.

"_Holy... Guys, I've decoded the signal… you won't believe it…"_

"Spit it out!" Brea yelled.

"_Alright… its an old signal belonging to James McCloud."_

Fox stopped in his tracks and Krystal caught him as he stumbled back a little. "Dad?" Bryan took a few steps back, crouching to help out with Fox.

"_Seems that way. Signals back, right in front of you."_

Bryan looked up to see a figure approaching them. It was darkened slightly, ripped fighter pilot uniform, with a few blood stains to add to the effect. It was just walking towards them slowly.

Bryan checked over his shoulder to gauge Fox's reaction. Krystal now had him propped up on the ground while he was gaping at his father's apparition. Krystal could see it too, as did Brea who was first to un-holster her weapon. Since Bryan was already low to the ground he un-holstered his weapon while pivoting on his knee, turning to hold his weapon strait in front of him.

"Halt! Do not move another step!" He called, knowing that Brea was standing ready behind him with her weapon aimed too.

The figure didn't stop, instead he seemed to move with more determination.

"Police! Freeze! Stop now or I will open fire!" Brea called out the second warning.

Bryan paused for a moment before firing. Between him and Brea they got off three shots before being blown back by an explosion. When he looked up he saw three bullet holes in the wall at the end of the hallway with scorch marks all over the wall from where the figure was to where they were.

"_What the hell was that! The whole building shook!"_ Mei screamed into the radio.

"_I'm dispatching a secondary F.E.A.R. unit out." _Bill called.

"_What, why?"_ Jackie.

"_Something is going on in that building. We need them to check it out."_

"_Didn't F.E.A.R. get wiped out?"_ Mei asked.

"_Their main team did. A few trainees were too. But they have a secondary unit."_

"Get them moving!" Bryan yelled, breaking up the chatter.

"_I'm on it!"_ Bill called back.

"_I'm moving to your local. Stay put."_ Mei said.

"_I'll be going with her."_ Jackie added.

Bryan shook his head for a moment, clearing out the ringing sound he heard. He got to his feet and moved towards Fox, already seeing that Brea was just fine.

"You alright?"

"Did you get it?" Fox asked.

"I'm not sure…"

"_F.E.A.R. en-route. Code 3."_

"Guys we need to get this mess cleaned up in under two and a half hours. We can't screw up Teresa's show." Fox stated, standing up and thanking Krystal for catching him.

Mei and Jackie hit the hallway at the same time, noticing them all getting off the ground.

"Yo! You guys alright?" Jackie was concerned while Mei was checking the ceiling.

"Drop ceiling." She was muttering to herself. She pushed one of the covers up before hoisting herself up and into the area above the ceiling. A few minutes later she dropped back down through the same hole, closing it back up.

"Nothing up there."

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"You fucked up! The bitch is here and none of them seem out of it about the attack! Did you man even carry out the act!" Maria was hissing into her phone in a dark corner of the building.

"_We were able to find out that he wasn't able to carry out the attack. One of the others discovered him, he died on the way to the hospital."_

"Akita would have never have made such a stupid mistake."

"_Well I and not Akita. But I do cover up where I can. We still could have this chance. That place is huge, there is no way they can cover all the areas without leaving some sort of gap."_

"I've already heard gunshots. Are your men here now?"

"_No… but I know what it was. I've had a few of my men make a mixture of Akita's blood plus some TI-83 to make a… raising the dead potion."_

"How did you get a hold of that chemical? Never mind Akita's blood."

"_I have my ways. But the potion has a problem. It woke up something else, not sure what it is. But I have plans to find out later on. For now, we will attack as necessary during the show or after it. Should my men fail… you know what to do."  
_

"Wouldn't it be easier for me to just off her now?"

"_Absolutely not! I still need you for later. My men are expendable! You, however, are part of a plan for later. But… should all else fail, I'm trusting you Maria - don't screw this up."_

She shut her phone abruptly, hearing the door behind her open.

"What?" She snapped, turning to see who it was.

"The building is clear. They said we'll be all set for the show. Just thought I'd let you know." Teresa sighed, turning around and shutting the door. She made a mental note to fire her manager later.

She turned another hallway, coming face to face with a man in black clothing carrying what looked like a large rifle. She shrieked, stumbling backwards. Someone must have heard her because a moment later, someone was helping her off the floor. She turned to see Mei brushing a few things off the singer's outfit before turning back to the man.

"Scary looking thing, ain't he." Mei mused with a smirk. "That's why they're called F.E.A.R." She added, laughing at her own joke. Teresa blinked a few times before asking her question. "What are you talking about?"

"Just an extra security measure. M-TAC is around here somewhere too. Since the place is so big we need all the extra help we can get."

Teresa eyed the guy before he flipped up his helmet revealing a large black dog behind the mask. "Didn't mean to scare you, miss. Sorry."

"Its alright." Teresa quickly replied, turning to Mei, pulling the agent aside. "I thought you guys were doing security. I really don't trust these other guys."

Mei patted Teresa on the shoulder. "Don't worry. We still have the lead. You'll have Bryan, Brea, and Jackie stage front with you. Me and Dean will be checking the place out while people are moving in and out of the place and during the show. Everyone else will be taking points around the arena. We just don't have enough for the crowd you're expecting."

Teresa studied Mei's eyes for a moment, looking for another other than the trust to hide there. She sighed, finding nothing to point out. "Alright… if you guys trust them…"

"Look, Bryan and Brea are the best two we got. Bryan's a great marksman and Brea is just the same. Jackie is great with planning and we'll all be in radio contact. You have nothing to worry about."

"What about the vixen, Krystal?"

"What about her?"

"I want her stage front too. She's the first out of all of you that I trusted."

"Alright, I'll talk to Fox and Bryan, get her moved up front. Any other issues?"

"None… thanks guys… really."

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"Alright, with the music playing you may have some trouble hearing your radio. Hopefully Brea's little computer contacts are working so you can read what we're saying." Bryan said over the radio, reading his own message in the neon green lettering while some other info was displayed.

"_Did I mention how freakin' cool these things are?"_ Dean responded.

"_Yah, yah. Boys and toys. We're working co-op with F.E.A.R. and M-TAC. We've got point so lets not lose our reputation to some stupid mistake, ok guys?"_ Mei talked over the radio instead of yelling like the others.

"_See anything call it. Bill can get too much SATLink footage since this entire place is in doors and Heat Sign wouldn't work because of the lights and massive crowds. All he's got right now is anything with a camera in it. So, if you've got one, pick a point that'll give him the best vantage. Bill - have any camera issues, we'd just love to hear them."_

"_Got it, Katt."_

"_Nice. Alright, the show is starting. Keep on your feet and don't get too involved in the music, ok? Threats will be varied depending on where you are. Front couple rows would be your pistols and anything behind them is most likely going to be some sort of a rifle. Even with the metal detectors on, these guys are sneaky, so keep your eyes, ears, and other appendages open."_ Fox finished, taking a step back so that one of the stage lights wasn't right in his eyes.

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With the show in full swing, it would have been surprisingly easy for any of them to lose their head and just sit back and enjoy the show. Bryan found himself drifting a few times before shaking himself back into a full awareness.

With everything working so well, they almost felt like they could take this job easy. Yet each found them constantly reminding themselves what could happen if they did.

"_Hey, Falco. Do you copy? I've lost your signal. You alright?"_

Bryan glanced up into the box area were he had seen Falco standing and watching for other the past hour. Seeing that the falcon was no where to be found he started to think of the possibilities.

"_Falco, you copy? Guys - anyone see him?"_ Bill continued over the radio.

"Two from M-TAC, check the third box, second row. We saw him there last." Bryan clicked his radio off, watching as two guards appeared in the box that Falco had been seen in.

"_Nothing out of place here. Orders?"_

"Hold it there. Mei?"

"_Yah chief?"_

"Meet with them there."

"_Got it."_

Knowing that Mei would take the lead when she got up there, Bryan turned back to his stage duties. He scanned the crowd before looking around at those around him on the stage. Brea was across the stage from him on the other side, he could tell she was worried about Falco's sudden disappearance.

"_Bryan, we're going to start searching for Falco."_

"Alright… send me two from M-TAC and two from F.E.A.R. I'm going with you guys."

"_They're on their way. What do you want to do?"_

"We'll search the top boxes, work our way down."

"_Uh… got it. I'll be waiting."_

"_Hey guys - my guess is that if they have Falco. They could monitor our radio. Want to switch channels?"_ Jackie asked, moving with Brea to meet up with Bryan.

"_Bill here, want to switch to TAC Channel Nine?"_

"Yah, go for it. TAC-C Nine guys." Bryan finished, switching his radio and listening in as everyone checked in on the new channel.

"Ready to move?" Brea asked, walking a few feet ahead of him.

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"Its like he just disappeared." Mei gasped. They had checked the entire stadium from top to bottom. Basement, storerooms, even vent ducts included. "Parking lot?" Jackie suggested.

"_Lots clear. No one has been out there since the start of the show."_ Bill answered for her, obviously listening in over the radio.

"I don't like this at all." Brea moaned as they stood in one of the main hallways, looking around as people walked pasted them during the intermission.

"_Guys, Teresa is looking for you."_ Krystal began. _"What should I tell her?"_

"We'll be there in a few. Just tell her that she's safe with you guys for now."

"_Got it…"_

"_Tell me some good news guys. Did you find Falco?"_ Fox was sounding hopeful.

"Not yet. We don't know what the hell happened."

"_Damn it… need a few extra paws?"_

"We're all set for now. Just stay with Teresa." Bryan said before addressing the team in front of him. "We have to be missing some place." He said, turning to look at a directory placed on the wall to his left. He looked it over a few times before pointing out a spot.

"What's here?"

"That's the ladder to the roof. When we did our sweep before the show it was locked down tight. No way someone got up there, yet alone dragged a body up there." One of the M-TAC agents read off.

"We'll check it anyway." Brea said, heading off in the general location of the ladder.

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"Something is blocking it from the outside." Brea said. The others had found her pushing up with her shoulders on the metal slab put in place to keep the public off of the roof.

"Here, watch out." Mei moved up front, gripping the bars of the ladder she lifted her body weight, pivoting just right so that she cloud flip and land both her boots squarely in the center of the slab, causing it to slide to one side a little and whatever was on it to slide off with a small thud.

They moved up onto the roof to confront the final hiding spot.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 30 Minutes Before xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Falco was enjoying the show greatly. Though he kept his rough exterior of course. Only Katt could really tell what he was thinking at any given time, and with her patrolling another area, he felt just safe with himself.

"Hey pal, why don't you put that thing under the seat and come with me."

Something had been jammed into his back. And with luck no where to be seen, it was the muzzle of a blaster. He detached his holster, tossing it under the seat before putting his hands behind his back, listening to the orders given by his temporary captor.

"Good, now, head for the ladder to the roof."

What seemed like a normal walk in the halls to a civilian was any agents worst fear. Separated from the team and no one to help you get out, he was silently thinking over any plans to get away, but the more he thought about them, the less likely they seemed to work.

He started climbing the ladder, taking a few steps back as he was told to let his captor up onto the roof as well. Once there he realized just who it was.

"You! What do you think you're doing!"

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Back in real time - Brea hoisted herself up onto the roof, looking around briefly before declaring it all clear to the others down below. Only a few joined her up there while others guarded the ladder.

"Well… I've got foot prints. And…" Mei stopped talking, causing Brea to turn around.

"What is it?" She asked, jogging over towards where the other girl was standing.

"Officer down! Need a Med-Evac!" Mei called into her radio.

"_What? What's going on?"_ Bill was on the radio quickly, dispatching medics while still trying to grasp the situation as set laid out by the team on scene.

"We've found Falco. His got a weak pulse! Get those medics moving now!"

"_Copy."_

"_Guys, how bad is it? He gonna be alright?"_ Fox pled over the radio, hoping his best friend was ok.

"Little while longer and he'd be DOA. He'll be fine if I get First Aid moving."

"_Medics in route. Estimated time: one minute, fifteen seconds. You guys gonna pull out?"_

"_Yah, guys pull Teresa and the others before they go back on stage. I'll make an announcement over the PA that everyone is to leave the building now. Evacuation."_ Bryan answered over his radio, being one of the ones to stay down below.

He nearly ran towards the stage area while Fox began to speak over the radio.

"_We were told they were not to be disturbed by Maria, that manager. They're in the green room… scratch that, only Teresa is in there… want me to go in anyway?"_

Bryan inwardly groaned. This whole missing was getting blown and he didn't know where the shots were coming from. Was it really Aramov's crew? Or a different cell that they hadn't dealt with yet?

"Hold on, I'm on my way."

"_Got it. Krystal is making the announcement for you."_

As Bryan hit the back stage, Krystal's voice boomed over the arena. She was most likely on the stage using one of the microphones.

"Please evacuate the building to your nearest exits. An emergency situation has rose and we require your cooperation. I repeat, we ask that everyone please evacuate the building. An emergency…" Her voice continued while Bryan met with Fox.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Well, when you guys found Falco we made the discussion to call this whole thing early just to be safe. We were about to go in and get everyone out when Teresa's manager bumped us out of the way, saying she would tell them. A moment later, the rest of the band shuffles out, but no Teresa." As soon as he finished his sentence two silenced shots from a plasma pistol rang out in his ears.

He rushed the door, leaving Bryan just to follow in his wake since he didn't have the better hearing, he had to follow Fox instead.

Fox broke the door and rushed in, finding Teresa sitting in a corner with a shot through her arm and one in her leg. Maria stood before her, readying to fire the kill shot strait through the singer's head.

Fox fired first, taking out the manger while Bryan ran to Teresa to began tending to her wounds.

"Everyone pull out now! We're out of here!" Fox yelled into his radio, helping Bryan get Teresa to the extraction point.

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"Well that did not go as planned." Brea sighed, sitting back on the couch back at the house. "How is Falco doing?"

"He's alright. We got him to the hospital and they released him an hour ago. Right now, he's in his room sleeping." With a slight grin, Bill added. "Katt hasn't left his side yet."

"And Teresa?" Krystal asked, taking off her holster so she could curl up on the other couch. "She's sleeping in the guest room. Her wounds were nothing more than just flesh wounds. Manager had shaky aim, lucky girl." Bill finished, folding his arms. "We're really coming under fire lately. Looks like we are close to finding something out that Aramov doesn't want us to know."

"Looks that way." Fox finished.

"This just doesn't seem right. Teresa said that Aramov was one of Akita's apprentices. Yet… she's made more mistakes than Akita would ever dream of. You would think that the first thing he would teach his underlings would be proper planning." Brea sighed, rubbing her temples as she felt the headache starting to pass through her front lobe.

"So… you think it's her organization, but someone else is pulling strings?" Bill asked, looking up from a folder he had just picked up off the table.

"Something like that… like she isn't there and someone is calling the shots. And if that is the case, where is she and what do we have waiting ahead of us when she gets back?"

Fox just looked around the room, everyone was tired and well ready to sleep, he stretched, walking towards the stairs. "I don't know about you guys - but I'm beat. I'm off to get some rest. 'Night."

Krystal stood too, following Fox. "Count me in. Couch is no place to get some rest."

Bryan bid them goodnight as he passed them on his way down the stairs. He stopped by a chair in the corner of the room, grabbing his jacket. Brea yawned slightly, turning to see what he was up to.

"Where are you going? Its close to midnight."

"Heading out for a drive." He responded. Heading strait for the door without another word.

"What do you mean 'out for a drive'?"

"I need some time to think, I'll be back in half an hour."

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Fox tossed and turned in his sleep that night. His nightmare was replaying in his mind again, only this time… it seemed slightly different. He was watching it from a corner, like before, but instead of seeing himself standing there with the gun in hand, he saw Bryan instead. While he watched himself bust the door down and enter the room.

At the last moment, Fox shot awake to Krystal shaking him.

"Hey! You alright? You were panting loudly and your mind was crying for help." She whispered to him. Fox gasped a few quick breaths of air. "I… I'm fine."

"Don't you lie to me Fox McCloud. Lets have it." Krystal pushed, trying hard to look stern in her tired state. Fox just rolled over, pulling the blankets close to himself. "I'm fine, nothing to worry about."

Krystal sighed, knowing full well that when her mate's mind was made up, there was no changing it at all. She layed back down, snuggling closer to him before trying to fall back asleep.

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"Do you know what these means?"

For the man behind most of the attacks until this point - the proverbial shit had hit the fan. He sat in a chair stationed in front of the desk while she sat on the desk, glaring at him before closing her eyes.

"How could you fuck this up so badly?" She growled. "I can't trust you with anything!"

She opened her eyes, standing and heading for the door. "Fall in, we're going to gather the troops and I'm pulling the strings now."

They walked down a long hallway before hitting a pair of double doors. They swing open to reveal a mess hall of sorts. All of their troops were busy eating until she had entered, now they stood at attention.

"Sit." She commanded, they listened, knowing full well that if they didn't, they wouldn't be leaving the hall.

"Corporal Canine." One of the soldiers stood at attention again, her eyes staring strait forward.

"You and your men have been taking orders from Major Edmund, yes?"

"Yes, Commander Aramov!"

"At any time did his orders seem unreasonable to you?" Aramov asked, looking over her shoulder at the Major, glaring at him again. She waited a moment for Canine to answer, when she didn't she whirled around, getting right in the Corporal's face.

"I asked you a question Corporal!"

Canine stuttered a moment before answering. "Yes, Commander Aramov! The Major's orders did not seem practical to me nor my men!"

Aramov smirked. "Good. Why didn't you question his orders?"

"You told us to always follow our superiors, Commander Aramov!"

Aramov's grin turned wicked as she spun on a heel. It took the people in the room a moment to realize what had happened. Blood began to squirt from Major Edmond's neck as his body collapsed to the floor. Aramov pointed two fingers at two different soldiers to her left, they both sprang to their feet and carried the body away.

She raised her voice loud to make sure she was heard without problem.

"Should anyone else have any more stunts they would like to pull, in my absence or not, prepare to face the same painful death. We cannot suffer any more losses thanks to Major Edmond, but our cause is far from lost." She turned to face Corporal Canine. "You have proven yourself in the field, even your men have too. You have been promoted to Major. Now, feast with your men and rest well tonight, there is much to be done in the upcoming days. Now, I must leave to call in some favors…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Later That Night xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"What the hell…" Bryan muttered, see the flashing lights behind him. He pulled off to the side a little bit to see if they were going to pass him, but they stuck right to his bumper.

"Five-five David to dispatch."

"_Dispatch, clear."_

"I've got a local unit behind me signally for a stop. Unit number Two-seven-five. There a problem."

"_Copy, hold on, contacting locals."_

"You! Pull over now!" The police car's PA system yelled at him. He didn't recognize the voices at all.

"_Dispatch to Five-five David. Best you pull over to I can figure out what's going on."_

Bryan sighed, pulling to the side of the road and hitting his own bar lights.

"Driver! Hands in the air, now!"

"Well this is new." Bryan groaned, noticing how both officers were now standing outside their car, weapons drawn. That's when he noticed something, one of their badges was on the wrong side of their uniform. That was something that was **_never _**done by a Cornerian officer or soldier. He reached for his gun slowly, sliding the clip out before reaching for the clip of rubber bullets.

With it loaded he slid it into his belt line, removing his holster from his hip as he got out of the car.

"What's going on here?" He asked, folding his arms and leaning on the rear quarter panel of his unit.

"We have orders to bring you in for questioning. Don't resist."

Bryan waited for them to approach him, when one of the holstered their weapon to try and handcuff him, he pulled his gun. Shooting the paw of the one that still had his weapon drawn, he dropped it before taking another hit to the chest. Meanwhile, before the other had a chance to draw his own weapon, Bryan had him on the ground gasping for breath after just receiving a shoulder to the gut.

The agent took a few steps back, keeping his weapon pointed at them.

"What did you do to him? You shot a cop?" The gasping one asked. Bryan had already taken note that the one he did hit had his uniform in proper control. Walking up, Bryan hit a bundle of nerves on the imposter in order to make him fall asleep before moving to the true officer's side.

"You shot me… oh man…" He gasped out, holding a paw to his chest where the rubber bullet had hit. "I've got a mate and kids and you shot me."

Bryan ejected his clip, reloading a fresh one before pulling the remaining rubber bullet from the old one. "They're rubber tipped. Hurt like hell, but no death. You'll have a bruised hand and chest, but that's it." He said, holding the cop down when he tried to get up.

"Ut! Stay down. Not done with you just yet. Where's your partner from?"

"I don't know, he just transferred in today."

"Who gave the order to pull me over?"

"One of the higher ups. Look, they're sending another unit out to help us take you in… you spared my life so… I owe you… just get in your car and go! Hide it somewhere and just stay low for a while…"

Bryan stood up walking back to his car when he heard something clatter behind him. The fake cop was already back on his feet, reaching for his gun. Bryan was slightly stunned, the sleeper hold was supposed to work for at least another half hour.

Before he had a chance to fire, Bryan pelted him with a few rubber bullets, knocking him down while his 'partner' pinned him to the ground. Bryan jumped in his unit, killing his lights and speeding off into the night.

"Dispatch, get me General Pepper!"


	6. When All Else Fails

Bryan sat in the darkened parking lot, radio help up as if he were about to speak when in fact he was waiting for General Pepper to be patched through.

"_This is General Pepper."_

"Want to tell me while two uniformed officers just tried to take me in?"

"_Bryan, that you? What happened?"_

"Two police officers just tried to pull me over and arrest me! That's what happened!"

"_Alright..."_

Something in the General's tone didn't sound very good to Bryan.

"What?"

"_In order for something like this to happen it would have to come from someone with purview over you. Only two of us have that. Me and Major Syphon."_

"I know you didn't do this so… what would Syphon have out on me?"

"_Maybe he's in on it? If Aramov was there is no doubt that one of the others could have been corrupted. Just stay low, I'll order off the warrant and have a chat with our friendly Major. I will contact you soon."_

Bryan was about to talk again when Brea's voice cut in.

"_Bryan you copy?"_ She asked, her voice sounded panicked.

"Yah, what's up?"

"_Thank gods your okay… someone called and said you had been shot and killed."_

"Get a ring on the caller?"

"_No, I dropped the phone for my radio. You're alright though, right?"_

"Just fine, Brea. I'm on my way back."

"_I'll be waiting."_

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As soon as Bryan shut the door, a black bolt slammed into his chest, tackling him to the floor. He took a quick deep breath, having all the wind knocked out of him before looking down to see just who had ran into him.

"I thought you were dead!" Brea cried, while Bryan hoisted her and himself back onto their feet, returning her hug. "I'm alright." A moment later Brea took a step back, whipping her nose and taking a deep, slightly embarrassed breath. She looked off to her low left slightly, chuckling. "Its good to see you're okay." She muttered a moment later. Just in time for Bill to swing into the main room. "Good to see the rumors aren't true. I've tracked the number. It leads back to the CFFL complex. Looks like a dead end."

Bryan nodded, waiting for Bill to leave before turning back to Brea. She was still looking slightly embarrassed. Bryan sighed, taking the step forward to take her into another hug, knowing she needed it more than he did.

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"First they attack Brea, then they attempt to take down Bryan?" Fox growled. "Not to mention using my father's image to get to me and attacking Falco! Then there is the whole incident with Teresa and her band! There have been so many attacks I'm not sure we can keep up with them all."

"We are in way over our heads," Mei added. "There is no doubt about that. But if we back down, we show weakness. That is what they are looking for. Not to mention that we had taken an oath to the public to protect them from attacks like these! If we go underground, what will that say to them?"

"Alright, Mei, but what good will we be if we do get taken out? So what if we have some bad PR with the public. I'm sure they will understand it was necessary to deal with such a large threat." Jackie argued, Krystal quickly broke in.

"We're making this a lot more complicated that it needs to be. Besides, we are still missing an important factor. There is some sort of Army out there building up its forces, we have no clue how to stop them, nor what they plan to do. We have a single clue as to where the came from thanks to several Gate Keeper appearances, but other than that - nothing. I really don't think going underground it a good idea. But… I wish to try something."

Krystal closed her eyes for a moment, gripping Fox's paw under the table.

"I want to cross to the other side, see what is truly upsetting the Gate Keeper. Maybe it will provide some clues. There is obviously something upsetting his balance. We just don't know what."

"What! Krystal, you cannot be serious! I won't let you! We have no way to protect you should something happen!" Fox was quick to apply the brakes to the plan, there was just no way his mate was going to put herself in that situation; to save a planet or not.

She was quick to respond. "Fox, we are mercenaries! The only thing that has changed is that now we get a steady paycheck for our services! We put ourselves in these situations for money, pride, or planet! You know it, and I know it! If there is a way to help, I want to go for it!"

"What if something happens to you! You and I both know that this is far from safe!"

Krystal's eyes landed on her lap. "Look, Fox. We both know that nothing at this point is safe. No matter where we go, there is a threat of attack. Even as we sit here, in our own house, there is still that threat that someone crazy enough could attack us. Look, if we know where all of those soldiers came from, we might be able to find some way to defeat them massively. It's the only way, Fox."

"Krystal…" He sighed in aggravation. "If anything happens to you…"

She grinned at him. "You need not worry. I've got plenty of reasons to come back."

Krystal's attention turned to Bryan when she saw him falter a little.

"Are you alright?" She asked. He was silent for a moment before answering.

"I'm not sure." He cringed slightly, reaching his right hand across to pull his left arm's sleeve up a little. He noticed the small rip and trickle of blood.

"It doesn't even hurt." He said; prodding the wound slightly. He suddenly felt hot and light headed. He faltered on one foot again.

"Hey, maybe you should lay down." Bill suggested, moving over to Bryan's side. His plan was to take one of his arms, have someone else take the other, and lead the leader back into the living room to rest. His plan changed quickly however when he had to lunge forward to catch Bryan as he collapsed.

"Geeze, he's burning up." He stated aloud, placing a paw on the commander's head. Mei was already crouching next to him, doing the same with her hand. "That's way too high. We need to get him to a hospital." She said, reaching for her radio. "Dispatch, we need medics to respond to the main house."

"_Copy, medics responding, code three."_

"Come on, we need to get him out front." Mei said. "Brea! Jackie! Grab lots of ice. We'll need it to try and bring down his body temp until the medics can get here."

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He could feel the bright light on his face - and that sterile smell wasn't any better. Bryan groaned slightly opening his eyes slowly so that his pupils had time to adjust to the light.

"What happened?" He asked, moving to sit up.

"We don't know yet. The doctors pulled some blood." Krystal responded, being either the only one in the room or the only one awake to answer his question. He sat all the way up now, surveying where he was. He was still dressed, in fact the only thing different was the needle in his arm providing fluids and the bandage wrapped around his arm.

He also recognized the room his was in. He looked off to his right to see Wolf sleeping in his bed. He turned back to Krystal who grinned. "Mei's idea." She said, like that would explain everything. In truth, it did.

Just then Mei and Jackie came through the doors, handing Krystal some food and drinks before turning to Bryan. "Gave us quite a scare. How are you feeling?"

Bryan opened his mouth to respond, only to have a doctor enter the room.

"It's good to see you up and running. We have an ID on what is in your system. It's called cyanide-chlorophorm-naratripamine. Nasty stuff really. You're not so lucky… they didn't get the full dose in you."

Everyone looked strait at the doctor now. "What do you mean? Wouldn't that be a good thing?" Jackie asked.

"No… he would be much better off with the full dose. That would mean instant painless death. But… with the current dose… it will take only two weeks. And… it will be rather painful."

Bryan wasn't so worried about himself. "Will it be contagious?"

"No, CCN is blood based. They had to make it pacifically for your DNA. No one else will contract it… from you anyway."

"What about a vaccination or some sort?"

"No such thing exists. Because it's such a filtering poison, we never had a way to make it. But… we've got two weeks so with the blood work we have now. We'll work on something… who knows, maybe you'll make the history books. But… statistically… this thing has a one-hundred percent mortality rate."

Bryan hopped off the bed, pulling the IV line from his arm before fixing his jacket, placed on the chair, over his shoulders.

"What do you think you are doing? You need to rest!" The doctor pleaded. "Sir!"

"You said this thing is deadly right?" Bryan mused. "Well I'm not dead yet, and there is no way in hell I plan to die in a hospital." He finished, fixing his collar. "Come on, we have work to do."

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"_You're my friend. So I'll yet you have it… but as your friend… I beg you not to use it."_

Aramov was replaying the warning over in her head. What had Trinidad meant when she had said that. "As your friend, I beg you not to use it…" She whispered aloud before shaking her head.

"Commander Aramov!" A voice called from outside her office door.

"Come in."

Major Canine entered the room, saluting her superior before taking a seat.

"Well?" Aramov prodded.

"The operation was a slight success. We were able to get the poison into him during the scuffle with our man but… we weren't able to get the whole dose in."

"Good." Aramov said, turning to some paperwork. The Major blinked. "Permission to speak freely, Commander?"

"Go ahead."

"Miss, in all the years I've served under you, anything less than perfection was normally punished. I must ask what has changed your mind this time."

"Do you wish to be punished, Major?"

Canine blinked a few times. "Not at all, Miss. My apologies." She stood to leave.

"The reason why I'm letting it slide is because that human has caused nothing but trouble for me. Now he will die a slow and painful death. See?"

Canine blinked a few more times, nodding to her Commander before leaving the room.

Aramov turned back to her work for a moment before pounding her fist on the desk. Her friend's warning becoming crystal clear now.

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"It must have happened when he was attacked before." Jackie stated, referring to when Bryan had been pulled over. "During the scuffle or something."

"The doctor said that they found a local numbing agent in his wound. That would be why he didn't feel anything too." Mei added, pulling to a stop just outside their house. They watched Bryan walking sternly out towards his unit, Brea was behind him pulling on her jacket.

"Get back here!" She was yelling at him. Mei got out of her car, leaning on the side panel as she watched the two start to argue.

"Will you stop walking?" Brea yelled. Bryan stopped in his tracks, taking a big sigh he turned on his heel, snapping slightly at her. Brea blinked a few times before growling at him.

"We can't help you if you go out and get yourself killed!" She said, getting right up into his face. The commander did not back down.

"They've already killed Ivan, turned Tommy, and attacked you, twice! Now they've decided to come after me. Why shouldn't I bring the fight right to their doorstep?"

"Because we need you _here_! You won't do any good if you go out and get yourself killed! Not only we will be down another man, but we'll also lose our commander! Do you know what damage that could be to team moral?"

Mei and Jackie watched as Bryan gripped the inside of his pockets tightly, making a crease form on the outside.

"Listen to me. We are not the police, we are not SWAT, we are not M-TAC." He took a breath. "We are not a full military battalion. We are a five man team fighting hundreds of terrorists a day. We do not suffer moral losses. We are supposed to be the elite or the elite, that means no time for grief."

He was actually starting to scare himself slightly, he had never been this rough with any of his officers, yet alone her.

"But you still forget! We are human! Well… most of us anyway… but we still have the same emotions! Why can't you accept that?"

"Look at me, Brea! I'm dieing over here! At the hands of the enemy no less! It'll be a cold day in hell that I let them kill me without making some large dent their operations."

"Look at you… dedicated to the job to the day you die…" Brea felt the pinpricks of tears forming in her eyes. "What about us, huh? We're the only family you have and you know it."

he turned, starting for his car again. He pulled the handle and stopped, looking over his shoulder. "I've thought of that already, you may not think I have… but I have." He turned to face her one last time. "I was told today that I have a very slim to none chance of surviving this thing… those are odds I've never faced before, and… I would just hate to think I went down without a fight." He said, jumping into the driver's seat of his car and speeding off.

Mei was in shock as Jackie quickly turned to her.

"We need to go after him." She said. "He's on a suicide run."

Brea watched the second unit speed off as she ran back into the house.

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Bryan saw Mei's lights behind him. He ignored them until she started to call over the P.A. system.

"_Bryan, pull over. We need to talk."_

He clicked his radio on.

"Make it quick, I'm in a hurry."

"_I'm not playing radio tag with you, pull that car over now!"_

Mei was being surprising cross towards him, even for her.

"Talk to me first. Maybe it'll convince me to do otherwise." He was just buying time.

"_What the hell do you think you are doing? You're going to get yourself killed!"_

"I'm already dead. Try again."

"_No you're not! They've got an entire research department at the military base looking for a cure. Don't make them do it for nothing."_

"Oh? And when did that start?"

"_Brea called Dracous after you called her from the hospital. He has the entire base riled up so to save you. Don't make them do it all for no reason."_

"We don't play on ifs and when's Mei. Until I know for sure, I have a mission."

He looked into his rear view mirror just in time to see Mei toss the radio to the ground and curse. A moment later his unit lurched forward as she slammed into his bumper from behind. She fell back a little, moving up, this time slamming into the quarter panel, spinning his car around. Before he could even react Jackie was out of the car with a less-lethal shotgun pointed right at him.

"Don't make me do this commander. You really aren't in the right state of mind." She said as he stepped out of his car to look at the damage. Mei had drawn her weapon by now, loaded with the rubber bullets as she aimed it at him.

"Come on, you know the drill." She pushed. Bryan just walked up to Jackie so that the barrel of the shotgun was pressed to his chest.

He stood there for a moment before ginning, slamming the barrel of the shotgun up with his first, causing Jackie to lose her grip on it. He caught it, aiming it for Mei's hand. Years of experience went into knocking the pistol from her hand without hitting her at all. He tossed the shotgun to the ground.

"Never pull a weapon on someone who has trained you. I know the tricks, inside and out." He said, only glancing back to make sure the two were okay before speeding off.

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Brea was grinning as she jumped on her laptop, even if she was in a pissy mood. "Stupid Bryan… thinks he so smart. But he forgot about the tracking device on all of the units." She was grinning until the page loaded and she realized that the beacon was coming from her desk drawer.

"Son of a bitch." She cursed, pulling it out and finding a note tapped to it. She was about to read it when Teresa came into her room. "I just heard… what's going on?"

She saw the note in the other girl's paw, and in turn, she moved to read over her shoulder.

_Figured you would try and track me down, Brea. You always were the smart one. But… I know better - I mean, come on, you've known me long enough to know that I always plan ahead and rarely am I caught off guard._

_Look, I know you aren't happy with my decision, but I also know that deep down, you do respect it. Now I don't know if that is because you served under me or you have a deep professional respect for me… but I would be more than willing to bet that it was something more personal._

_Either way… by the time you get this I'll already be on my way down a one way road. And with a little bit of luck - your jobs will get a lot easier._

_See you in the next life._

_-Bryan_

_P.S. I love you, too._

Brea was beyond tears at this point as Teresa gripped the younger girl's shoulder tightly. She took a step back when Brea stood quickly, knocking the chair over in the process. Teresa took another step back as the cat's tail swished violently behind her. Before she could stop her, Brea had grabbed her keys and ran for the door.

Teresa chased the faster cat out to the front just as Mei and Jackie pulled up with their smashed unit. Seeing another DCTU car speed past them Mei groaned. "Why can't everyone stay put." She sighed before noticing Jackie's grin. "What?"

"It's simple… she'll pull him from the brink… she always does."


	7. To Tell The Truth PART 1

Off in another part of the city, Bryan's unit pulled to a complete stop under an overpass for the highway. It wasn't a major route, so it was actually quiet compared to the other ways. There was a guard rail off to the side that blocked anyone from just driving into the river that flowed beneath the overpass.

The sun was close to getting ready to set and the weather had warmed up compared to the rest of the day. He turned everything off, getting out he opened the back and sat on the tailgate. He glared at both of his hands for a minute before standing up, reaching into the back of his unit and pulling out some weapons. He began checking ammo supply and readying his weapons for combat.

"You know, you look like you're going into a war without a team. Kind of dangerous, wouldn't you say?"

One of the things Bryan had learned over the years, meet as many different people as you can; you never know what connections they might bring along. And since they had been living on Corneria, he had met a lot of interesting furs. A few of which hadn't been originally from Corneria, this was made obvious by certain abilities… say like Krystal had.

"Not now, Silver. I'm busy." Bryan huffed, not turning to look over his shoulder at the wolf. Silver was well built, and had been named for the color of his fur which was mostly pure silver. The occasional black and brown streak would add highlights to certain features on the wolf's body, while still making him look intimidating. The two had crossed paths when Silver's mate had been killed in a car accident.

"I heard the news today." Silver said suddenly, nearly causing Bryan to drop his rifle.

"News travels fast I take it?"

"You have no idea." The wolf walked up and leaned on Bryan's unit, watching the man work.

"You humans are so self-destructive, you know that?"

"We're a crazy bunch."

"No, I mean it. The minute one of you get dealt a bad hand you take off on some crusade or suicide mission."

"I see you've been talking to Brea." Bryan said, not having to look up to see the wolf's grin.

"Yah, she called looking for you. They're all worried, Bryan."

Without warning, Bryan slammed his rifle down, turning around and crossing his arms, sitting on the tailgate again. "What the hell do you want me to say?" He asked, looking at the ground. "I was told I was going to die. Alright fine, but who says I can't take a big chunk of the enemy with me." He sighed, looking over at Silver who just grinned at him.

"Know what my mom always told me growing up? Don't rush ahead. You miss opportunities that way. Who says that the Military won't figure something out, or even the hospital lab techs?"

"Because, they've never had the chance to. Stuff like this takes time, that's time I don't have."

The wolf snapped his finger, twirling it around so that a small circle of fire formed in the air. "Fine," he said, grinning. "but all I'm saying is to just be careful. I did the same thing when Hitomi died, spent days in a coma-like state just staring at the wall. Didn't answer any calls from my family or anything. Then I went after the guy in the other car, nearly killed him too."

"There a moral to this story, Silver? Or are you just buying time?"

"What I'm trying to say is I stuck it out, I got better and I moved on. I got a better job, I found new friends, I got myself into a program once I realized I was a drunk. Why can't you do the same?"

"Because, I'm the one dieing, not a loved one. I don't know how to do anything else except take out terrorists, and I'm no drunk. That's why I can't do the same!" He finished, yelling the last words out. "Now piss off!" He turned, going back to his work, only to have Silver grab the pistol from his hand.

"Give me that."

"No."

"I said give me that."

"I heard you." Silver responded, hiding the pistol behind his back.

Bryan snapped, grabbing the slightly taller wolf's arm he pinned it behind his back and then pinned him to the truck, taking the weapon out of his hand. What he hadn't counted on was what happened next.

Silver snapped his fingers, causing a small blast to throw Bryan back a foot or two. Bryan shook his head, staring at the ground as the wolf's feet came into view. He looked up to see the paw extended to him. Silver was helping him up.

"Just get out of here. I don't want your help. In two weeks I'll be nothing more than a body and a memory."

The wolf pulled him to his feet, still keeping the pistol away from the officer.

"Understand this, you'll never be that. You're impact here is too great. You've reached the ranks of Star Fox in the eyes of the public. And yes, that is big. You've eared the respect of just about every General in the military, and even the higher-ups. You've trained troops in life saving procedures and even protected many, many important people. Trust me, you'll never be a body and a memory to these people. Now stop your guilt trip, get in that car, and go home!"

Bryan was about to respond when a shot rang out and he felt a pain in his back. He turned around to see Brea crouching behind him, pistol drawn. Silver took a step back, grinning wildly as she picked the leader up off the ground and sat him on the truck, his hands handcuffed behind his back.

"Son of a bitch… you knew!" He yelled at Silver, silently picking the cuffs from behind his back.

"Sorry pal, but you're the closest thing I got to a big bro, and I really don't need you getting yourself killed." Silver admitted shrugging. He turned to see Brea glaring at him. It wasn't a hate filled glare, but more of a 'what the hell do you think you're doing' glare.

"I really didn't want to shoot you… but, it's the only way I could stun you long enough to get you cuffed. And don't blame Silver, it isn't his fault, I dragged him into this."

Bryan groaned, feeling the bruise starting to form. Those rubber bullets hurt like hell!

"Look at me." Brea said silently, using her finger to turn his chin to her. Silver walked around to the front of the car, giving the two a moment alone.

"I'm not going to fight you anymore Bryan, if you want to go out and get yourself killed, then go. But… at the same time… I would like nothing more than to drag you back to the house and keep you under lock and key until Dracous finds something to beat this thing with. I mean… damn it, Bryan!"

Bryan chuckled slightly.

"Great, no you're laughing at me. You know that is really bad for my mental health?"

"Brea, there is something I need to tell you." He said, just as Silver came around the side of the truck. "But in order to tell you, I there is something else you need to know first."

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_-Bryan's Voice Text- It was a few weeks back, right about the time we got the name of our terrorist, Aramov. It was a late night and you were fast asleep, while I couldn't catch a wink if it was handed to me. So I headed out into the night for a walk, left at about half part two. I jogged a little over a mile until I reached a park. I figured what the hell, and walked in…_

_I made in past the lake and into the back woods area. I was about to turn around and head back for the house when I heard voices._

-3rd Person Story Text-

"What is it that you wanted to meet here at such a late hour?" One of the voices asked. Bryan, being beyond suspicious, hid himself behind a tree, listening in.

"We need to move up our time tables, it seems that DCTU has come very close to our base of operations, they know where we are, and what we have." A new voice responded.

"So, now what? There is only so much we control within the Military. And without General Pepper on our side, there is very little we can do. Besides, my informant from inside the house has yet to come up with anything useful." Another voice, making three total so far.

"Then _sway_ him. He is needed for our plan to succeed."

Bryan jogged back off into the night.

_I contacted General Pepper immediately tell him what I had found out. At first we didn't know what to do, but then he told me about how I was going to be pulled over and arrested or killed. Everything from there became a play. None of the cops in on what I knew about that attack, all they know is that a rouge agent escaped their grasp. General Pepper told me what they were going to dose me with, so when I put the fake cop down, I stole it from him, squirted a certain amount into the street gutter while he was out and put it back before he woke up._

_After I sped off I parked in a lot, still acting for any watching eyes. But during that time I placed fake blood on my back to make it look like a wound. As for the high fever? I had been wearing my jacket inside the house, of course I was hot. Mei rode with me to the hospital, and on the way there she was clued in on what's going on. The doctor was in on it too. For now, we need to play it as we did before, you never know when they are watching…_

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"But what about now? You just spilled your entire story to me, how do you know they aren't watching now? And better yet, how do you know I'm not your traitor."

"Well for one thing," Silver began. "I'd know if anyone was watching us. Why do you think he keeps me around?" He said, jabbing a thumb at Bryan.

"And for another," Bryan added, trying to keep the chuckle from his voice. "I know you well enough to know you would never think of betraying the team. Besides, I'm positive that it isn't anyone on our team anyway. Krystal came up to me the other day and said something about two of the band members blocking their minds from her. I'm positive its one of them."

"So what about that thing between you and Silver a few moments ago?" Brea asked.

"Pure luck. I already knew about Bryan's plan, but when you called me, I saw an opening. Bryan apparently saw it too, that's how we lead you here."

"By the way, thanks for that rubber bullet to the back." Bryan said, sliding his cuffs off his hands, rubbing his shoulder blade. Brea became flustered. "Eh, sorry bought that… but if you had told me what you were up to…" She scolded, taking her cuffs from him.

She dropped them, a thought coming into her head. "So… you aren't dieing?"

Bryan shook his head, only to be tackled into the back of the unit by the flying fur ball.

He landed hard with an 'oomph!' while Silver just whistled and looked in the other directing, giving the two a moment. When Bryan regained his senses he realized that Brea was nuzzling against his chest, he also realized that she was crying.

"I was so worried." She cried. "I was worried that I'd never see you again. I was worried that you were going to leave me." Silver stuck his head in, grinning at Bryan who could see him clearly. Bryan just stuck his leg out, kicking the wolf in the hip.

"I'm not going anywhere." Bryan said, holding onto the cat anthro tightly. She continued to cry into his shirt for a few moments before leaning up to look him in the eye.

"Your note… at the end… did you mean it?" She asked, a hopeful look in her eye.

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A/N: Alright guys, no new chapters **_until_** I get more than just one review for this chapter. I'm happy to get as many hits as I am, but one review to forty-seven hits tells me that people are reading, without reviewing. So, no new chapters until I get at least six, that's right -count'em, SIX, reviews for this chapter. Which means you won't know Bryan's answer until I get reviews.

P.S. Though is the person that ALWAYS reviews this stories asks, I'll tell him only because it isn't fair to punish him, he reviews.


	8. To Tell The Truth PART 2

A/N: Alright - four reviews. Good, really good - but it's still not six! So, in celebration, I'm going to give you guys a 14 page chapter. With a catch - you'll figure it out. Rather quickly, too.

Enjoy!

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The answer Brea was looking for didn't come in time for her, Mei's voice on her radio drowned out any answer he may have given.

"_Brea… we need you back at the house…"_

She rubbed her eyes a few times, growling at her teammates interruption.

"What do you want!" She snapped into her radio, only pulling herself up enough to grab it. _"Hold it down, damn, Brea. Listen to me, we've just received notification from dispatch… we need you back here…"_

"Just tell me what you want!"

"_It's one of your men… Brea, I really think you should be back here for this…"_

Brea cursed loudly, severely aggravated that she had been interrupted. She pulled herself off of Bryan, jumping off the back of the unit and walking back towards her own. She rubbed her eyes again before giving him a sheepish grin.

"You'll have to tell me later." She said, giving him a quick kiss before hopping into her car and speeding off.

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By this time, thanks to Mei's constant badgering, the camera crew had 'respectfully' postponed their visit until a more, convenient, date. For now, she sat on the arm rest of the chair, waiting for Brea to get home, the tape held loose in her hands as she wondered just how far this war was going to go…

The front door slammed and Mei looked up to see Brea standing there.

"What is it?"

Mei motioned for her to sit down while she stepped up to put the tape into the player.

"Everyone else is at Military HQ right now, debriefing the rest of your men and the others. I stayed behind… figured you would want to see this without an audience."

Brea didn't understand it at first, until the tape began to roll.

"Oh my god… that's Kyle…" She breathed out, Mei reasoning becoming really clear.

_Rule # 21: My team is my family. They're all I know._

A woman's voice came over the speakers.

"Good evening, men and women at DCTU. I take it you've had a good dinner, yes? Well, it would seem that Colonel Honda here isn't feeling the same about his evening. I take it you know of his family, hmm? I'm sure his two young daughters would just love to see him come home… in one piece that is…"

Kyle disappeared from the screen as another's face came on.

"Who's that, another hostage?" Brea asked, Mei shook her head, pointing at the screen.

"I am Commander Aramov. It seems you've been gunning down my people. You stupid military dogs, you don't even know what war you're in right now, do you? It figures! Well here is your chance to step out. I will only offer it to you once. You have already seen the extent of my power when it comes to being able to take one of your own down. I almost feel bad for Ivan, but, he died in a coma, didn't he? No pain there… but your Commander, now there will be a painful death. So, I bet your wondering what my offer is? Good, remove yourself from this fight. Go to some far away planet if need be and I will spare your lives. Not only that, but I will give you the antidote for your Commander's poisoning _and_ return Honda to you. There will be no negotiations on my offer, it's as simple as take it or leave it."

The tape came to an end and Mei looked at Brea.

"He's a member of my team…" She began, Mei took a breath. "So he'll understand when we tell them that we do not negotiate with terrorists." She finished.

"That has to be hard for you to say." The other asked, hugging Brea in her arms to comfort her. "Unbelievably hard. But they know… and they'll understand that, I know they will."

Mei nodded. "Man, first Bryan's ordeal, now this."

Brea nodded. "Call the press, we have a statement to make."

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"_We have called this conference in response to a threat we have received today."_

Aramov grinned as she put her feet up on her desk, watching the TV in the corner of the room, she turned the volume up.

"_We have been told that a member of one of our sister team's has been taken hostage by what we call only deem as 'Darkness 2'. We were told that we would be able to save our leader, and that team member, if we stepped out of the current anti-terrorism war. To Aramov, if you are listening..." _The feline speaker paused, causing Aramov to move forward to the edge of her seat. Still grinning - she knew she had them beat.

"_Offer rejected, we do not negotiate with terrorists."_

Aramov growled, jamming her claw down on the intercom of her phone.

"Tell Canine to terminate our hostage, and toss any remaining doses of the antidote down the drain."

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Brea shuddered lightly as the strong arms held her tightly.

"I did it… I told them no." She whispered.

It was dark now, with only the search lights of the unit's bar lights to illuminate the scene in which she was.

"You did the right thing. And I'm sure Kyle understands."

"He has little kids, Bryan! They'll never know their father now because of me!" She began to sob again. Bryan had to sigh. The past few years of their life had taken a major turn, they had faced more violent attacks than they ever did on earth, it was really beginning to take a toll. Hopefully, once this war was over, they would pass a martial law ordnance on Military personnel so that they didn't need to do all this liberal bull.

"Don't you ever think like that! You didn't do anything wrong! You didn't take him away from his kids! Aramov did! She initiated an attack hoping to gain something from it! It failed so she did the only thing she knows how to do! We will put an end to this, Brea! No more innocent lives will be lost!"

"I know… it's just… man… so many people lost because of one person's views. Hardly seem right or fair."

"That's what we're for." Bryan said, pointing to the letters on his unit. "We stand to end such injustices."

"_Brea you there…"_

She took a moment to compose herself, sniffling a few times before answering Jackie's call.

"Yah…"

"_A patrol unit just called it in… they find Kyle… I'm so sorry Brea."_

Brea dropped her radio, sobbing again. "I hate this job… I hate knowing that at any moment, everyone you've ever cared about can be ripped away from you!"

Bryan leaned down to grab the radio, slipping it into his own belt before holding the crying feline tightly.

"_Brea, you ok? Still with us?"_

Bryan took a moment before answering for her.

"She's fine Jackie…"

"_What the… Bryan… its good to hear your voice, sir."_

"Same here… sorry I had to take off on your guys… certain things needed to be done."

"_I'm sure it'll all turn out okay… I'm not even going to give you the speech right now. The others are worried about you, but we know you'll be just fine on your own… how's Brea doing?"_

"She'll be fine… has anyone alerted Kyle's family yet?"

"_Nope… I was about to go out and do it myself since Brea wasn't here…"_

Brea snatched the radio from Bryan's hand. "I'll do it…" She said into it quietly.

"_You sure? Maybe one of us should do it-"_

Brea interrupted the radio transmission. "I said I'll do it."

"_You got it boss."_

Brea began walking off for her unit, Bryan ran up to her, catching her at the right angle to scoop her up, he began walking back towards his own car. "You're in no condition to drive. Come on, I'll drive you."

"But, my car!" She protested, struggling slightly. Bryan just plucked the keys out of her pocket by the remote that she had left handing out, tossing them over to Silver who caught them easily. "Problem solved."

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The two cars pulled to a stop out in front of a three story house. Silver was the last one out and he leaned on Brea's unit, staying back out of respect more than anything else. Bryan and Brea walked up to the front door, she knocked on it, taking a deep breath.

When the tigress answered the door she was holding a smaller child in her arms. The child, of course, had no interest in the people at the door, rather getting food from the kitchen was on his mind. She smiled at them at first before smiling at Silver before looking back at the two agents. It was when she realized that her smile hadn't be returned did it turn into a deep frown.

"Something has happened… hasn't it…"

Brea nodded, taking a deep breath.

"Oh my god! Is it Kyle? Is he okay?"

Brea closed her eyes for a moment before attempting to speak. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Honda but… he was taken hostage today… The terrorists issued demands but…" She had to stop herself.

How do you tell someone's mate that their mate died as a direct result to your actions.

"I see… tell me you did not meet their demands…" Kyle's mate said, causing both Brea and Bryan to give her questioning glances. She set the child down, letting him run off to get into something before giving the two agents a warm smile. "Right? I mean… I always knew that job of his would get him into trouble one day… but he loved that job, wouldn't pass it up for anything in the world. And to be honest? I loved him for it… I made my peace with the possibilities long ago and I've been preparing myself for the day that I received that call that most fear… I just want to know that you didn't meet their demands… Kyle would have hated it if you attempted to…"

This was a slight surprise… of course they had spotted the tears primping to edges to the tigress' eyes, but it was still unusual to see the wife or husband of a cop taking their death so well.

"Yes, Ma'am… we refused their demands." Bryan answered for her.

"Good. Poor Kyle would turn over in his grave to find out that you had given in."

A small whine could be heard and Brea looked down to see a slightly order kid standing at his mother's feet. "Mommy, what happened to Daddy? Is he coming home?"

She bent down, picking his kid up with care, hugging him close.

"No, sweetie, Daddy won't be coming home… he has a planet to save."

"Will he be a hero like Star Fox?"

"You bet, kiddo. Maybe even greater." Bryan answered quickly before bidding good-bye to the family.

"Poor kid." Brea said, getting into Bryan's car.

"Man, things are hitting the fan fast, aren't they?" Silver asked, walking up to Bryan.

"It's only going to get worse. Something tells me that Aramov won't stop, she'll have to be killed."

"What do you mean?"

"Lets say we raid her complex. We take a few prisoners but take out more than two thirds of her staff, we make it to her - there is just no way in hell she'll go down without a fight. She won't surrender. We'll have to take her out."

Silver nodded. "What about an assassination? I mean she has to make some sort of contact outside of her base, who's to say we couldn't grab her then?"

"We could… it would be difficult. Besides, without proper surveillance. We can't establish that with the current way of things. General Pepper is already having a hell of a time with all the leaks from the Military as it is, he has no time to field requests from us."

"So… what do you guys have?"

"Right now? Two SATLink images, not much more."

"These people have got to have lives outside of Aramov's complex. See if you can match a face to a name to an address."

Bryan nodded, returning to his car. "Follow me, we're going to head for home."

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Mei nearly dropped her drink when she entered their at-home briefing room to find Bryan sitting on a table looking over pictures. "You are one messed up person, you know that?"

"I've been told worse."

"Over our little fit, are we?"

"The band still here?"

"Nope, we shipped the off to another safe house. This place is getting too crowded."

"Then the fit was an act, you know it, now hush and let me concentrate."

She set her mug on the table, looking over his shoulder.

"What are you looking at anyway?"

"Faces." He said, pointing to a slightly fuzzy image. "Think we could clean that up?"

"Uh… is Slippy can't then Dracous can."

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"Well guys, meet Ms. Carmen Canine. Originally part of Corneria's Defense Military she was discharged after being accused of sleeping with one of the higher ups to get her ranking. Later on it was discovered that he had lied when she had refused to sleep with him." Fox was reading the information of a paper in a folder he held in his paw. The others had picked various casual points around the living room, mostly on chair armrests, and if they actually sat in a seat, their feet were firmly on a table.

"She led a team of fifteen soldiers. Most of which were reassigned after her dismissal. Currently? She lives on the east side of town, Central District, One-Thirty-Seven Trent Road. No family to speak of except for a younger sister that she supports, works at the local grocery store. Stocks shelves for a living."

"So, what do you guys want to do?" Bill asked, looking around the room.

"Simple, we confront her on the job. She won't cause too much of a scene there, and she will most likely be unarmed. We will have to watch ourselves though, god knows that she knows some hand-to-hand stuff. We'll have it in two teams. One team will enter the store and take up random positions, make it look like you're buying stuff. The other team will simply wait outside incase we need an assault element." Brea said.

Bryan nodded his agreement. "Me and Silver will approach her. I'm sure she'll be surprised to see me."

Mei snorted. "No kidding. Specially since they tried to kill you."

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Next Day - 1300 Hours

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Carmen whistled a little while she worked. She placed the food on the shelves before moving back to her cart for more boxes, she continued her job. "Man, today feels like its going to be a good day." She whispered to herself. She just couldn't explain why she was in such a nice mood. She glanced towards the store front windows, seeing that what was left of the slight drizzling rain had turned into sun which was now filtering in through the windows.

She turned back to her work when someone asked her a question.

"Excuse me, Miss? How much for this?" He asked, she turned to see the box he was holding. "Fourteen-thirty-nine." She was about to say more when she saw his face. "I'm sorry, I need to go." She was cursing her mind about thinking about nice sunny days. She turned and was about to walk away when she bumped into another person. "Excuse me." She said, looking up at his face.

Silver just smiled at her. "I believe you are coming with us." He said, tapping her shoulder with one claw while pointing at Bryan with another.

"What do you want with me?" She asked, following Silver while Bryan walked next to her. "You seem like you have a guilty conscious." Bryan said.

"I have no such thing."

"Is that why you tried to run away before?"

She remained silent while Silver opened the door for her and she got into the car.

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The small three car convoy pulled off the freeway and into a parking garage. They made a small triangle. Men and women in black tactical gear were the first ones out, securing around the outside of the ring of cars before five others got out on the inside of the ring.

"Why are we here?" Carmen asked, looking around.

"We need to have a chat, Ms. Canine." Silver said, folding his arms and leaning on one of the units.

"I have nothing to talk to you about. Just bring me back to work, I can't afford to miss another day, I need that pay check!"

"To support your sister, I take it?" Bryan asked, causing Carmen to gasp.

"What have you done?"

"Nothing." Brea answered. "But you've done plenty."

"What did you do to my sister!" Carmen yelled at Bryan, getting into his face. A few of the tactical agents turned, raising their weapons. Brea waved them down.

"She is safe. Krystal is taking care of her at your house. I'd bet they are playing a game right now. She's great with kids, ya know."

"What do you want from me."

"You will be my mole inside of Aramov's syndicate."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Carmen scoffed, her gaze shifting to her feet.

"Don't you lie to us. What makes you think that you're safe with Aramov! She wants to kill everyone!"

"Not us!" Carmen could yell out before she could stop herself. "Not her people…" She said quietly again. "Look… I know what she is planning. She promised us that our families would be spared if we just followed her orders!"

"You think she told you the truth?" Mei yelled, smashing her fist into her unit. "She told you lies! She'll kill you just like she'll kill everyone else! She has one mission, the entire annihilation of Corneria! That includes you _and_ you sister!"

"No!" Carmen countered. "You lie! The government lies! They told me that I had slept with another officer just to make my rank! I would never reduce myself to some slut! I've worked for what I have! I won't let you stupid government dogs take that away from me! Not again!" She raised her fist, lashing out at Bryan. "Now let me go!"

He caught it with ease, holding it tight in the palm of his much larger hand as it shook with the same rage as its owner.

"Listen to me. Listen good, because I won't repeat myself. You have two options. You help us, we take down Aramov, you and your sister remain where you are now, a few hundred dollars richer. Option two: You don't tell us a thing, you go to jail, your sister gets put into foster care and we take down Aramov anyway. Either way, we win, she loses."

"No!" Carmen growled. "You lie! Aramov does not lose!"

"_Hey guys, think I can get an unmarked to roll by here? I've seen the same car go by about four times. Silver with a blue racing stripe, male driver, silver wolf, looks to be about his late thirties / early forties."_

Krystal was asking for a little bit of help.

"_Copy. We'll send out an unmarked unit for you. ETA: one minute. Keep us posted."_ Dispatch replied. Carmen just stared at the radios in horror.

"What?" Mei asked, taking an apprehensive step forward.

"She knows... Aramov knows you found me! See what you've done! Now she'll kill me sister, and then me!"

"What?" Brea asked quickly, her voice spiking a little.

"Wait, what did she say?" Mei said, turning to Bryan.

"Krystal! Pull out of there now. Get into a safe spot, we're on our way." Bryan said, giving a signal for everyone to load into their units.

"_What's going on?"_

"It's Aramov's troops. They're probably looking for Carmen. Pull back to a safe location. We're on our way."

He tossed his radio down in the car, slamming his door and his gas pedal at the same time. Brea hit the lights and siren as they sped down one of the main roads. Bryan knew that Krystal was smart enough not to go out the front. In fact, within all reason, she would most likely barricade herself within the house until they got there to extract her.

_Oh man, if anything happens to Krys, Fox will never forgive me._ Brea rattled in her head.

Lots of rough turns later they leapt out of the car, staring in awe at the state Canine's house was in. "Oh, man." Mei swore, seeing the various holes and blown out parts from an attack that must have happened while they were in route. "Ain't no one gonna survive that." Bryan overhead someone else say.

He was already charging the house while Dean had to hold back Carmen from running up to it as well.

"Krystal!" Bryan yelled, slamming his weight into the front door, knocking it off its hinges. He continued to call out her name, other chiming in at various intervals. The back half of the house had collapsed, and with their run of luck they've been having, Krystal and the kid would be under there somewhere too.

More sirens became noticeable in the distance after someone had called it in. Radio chatter was coming close to an all time high as dispatch was trying desperately to keep up with the number of reports they were getting.

He jumped a small gap in the debris, landing on a lower area and using one of his hands to compensate from the extra force. Jackie landed on the same piece of debris after he moved out of the way, her crouch no as low as his had been.

They continued their search until they were standing in the back yard of the lot.

"Nothing. She isn't even in here..."

They walked around the front just in time to hear Dean yell. "Son of a bitch!" They watched as he stumbled backwards, landing hard, while Carmen made strait for the house. Running right past Mei and Falco and pushing Brea out of the way before jumping the same gap Bryan and Jackie had. But instead of continuing forward, she turned and disappeared deep into the cave formed by the collapsed area.

Bryan met the others at the same whole. Anyone looking at it would have guessed that it just led to the ground. But judging by the fact that Carmen was no where to be seen, there had to be some sort of crawl space down there.

Brea was the first to jump down, pulling her flashlight and weapon from her belt. She pivoted a few times before looking up. "Two different ways. Both are large enough to stand up in, so long as your slightly crouch." She said, darting her eyes around a few times down both ways.

One by one the others jumped into the same hole, splitting up into two groups.

Bryan, Brea, Mei, and Jackie "walked" slowly down their chosen path. It wasn't too narrow, but narrow enough to where they had to walk in something slightly resembling a singe-file line.

Mei had taken the lead; she had just rounded a corner when a someone swung a broad at her head. Using every ounce of her reflexes, she ducked under it and grabbed at the offending end, pulling it out of the attackers grasp and tossing it somewhere down the hall.

Now she lashed out back, grabbing the attacker by an ear and pulling them from their hiding spot. Before anyone else could blink, Mei had the missing Carmen on her stomach, cursing loudly.

"Whoa." Jackie said before she cloud stop herself, pulling her handcuffs from her back. They secured Carmen, this time two of them watched her while the others took lead.

"What are you doing down here?" Mei asked, sitting the terrorist down roughly in an area that they could spread out in. The tunnel from the house debris had turned into an underground tunnel by now, and radio contact was out of the question.

Carmen kept her mouth shut. Mei just sighed, pulling her medical kit from her pack, using the flashlight to check out the damage she had done to her ear. She stuffed the black flashlight into her cheek, pulling bandages from her kit.

"I bet I can tell what you're up to. Underground tunnels normally lead to some sort of safe house. If I didn't know any better, I'd bet you had planned this incase Aramov had no use for you anymore."

Carmen still kept quite. Pulling her head away from Mei, letting the blood ooze down her cheek. Mei sighed, she couldn't even begin to tell herself why she felt sorry for the terrorist. She never had before.

"Alright, so maybe I was a little rough on you. And I probably could have disabled you without pulling on your ear. Look, why did you come down here?"

Brea growled, standing up. "Lets get moving. The sooner we find Krystal, the sooner we get to drop her off at the station."

"You won't get your teammate back without me. Mona won't open that door unless I'm there." She finally spoke, giving up on eluding the medics fingers. Carmen sighed, feeling more defeated now than ever before.

"We'll blow the door down. It's what I do best." Brea said, strapping her gear on a little tighter.

"You cannot! I built that room myself, there is only one way in, and one way out. Mona controls it now. And if your lucky, she would have pulled your comrade in there with her!"

Mei pushed Carmen roughly, forcing her to move quicker through the tunnels. A few minutes later, they stood outside a large silver door. Brea stepped up to it, tapping it a few times.

"With enough of a charge I could hit the weakest points on this door. Blow it wide open."

"Keep it down, Pyro. With enough of a charge you could take out this entire tunnel." Jackie mused, looking up at the slightly weak-looking beams separating them from the dirt above.

Carmen stepped up to the door, kicking it with her foot three times. "Mona! Open the door! I've bought some help!"

A moment later there was a hiss and the door slid open. Mei pulled Carmen back a foot while Brea and Jackie entered the room with their weapons drawn. Carmen gasped slightly, thinking they were going to shoot her sister. She struggled for a moment until Brea reappeared with Mona. The girl was no older than fifteen, but she was diffidently shorter than the average. Not by much, but enough. Carmen was allowed to approach her sister, she kneeled down to her level, her hands still behind her back.

"Mona, can you tell me what happened?"

"It was Damien! He showed up and started shooting at our house!"

"Are you okay? He didn't hit you did he?"

"Bryan!" Jackie's voice came from inside the room. He ducked in, wondering what she wanted.

"No, but the other lady; Krystal. I think she's hurt."

Right on cue. "Mei! Get in here!"

Mei handed Carmen off to Brea, just as Jackie came out of the room to help her.

Inside the room, Mei found Bryan kneeling in a corner of the room next to a pair of blue feet. This served to quicken her pace, pulling her kit from her pack again.

"How bad is it?"

"Two shots, one to the right arm and the other to the right side of the chest. Looks like it missed anything vital. Gonna need some bandage work, though. She's lost a decent amount of blood. Going to have to carry her out." He was working fast until he realized something. "Mei, look at this." He said, pulling on Krystal's shirt just enough to expose the wound.

"Did she do that?" Mei asked, looking at the bandage work. Bryan turned on the ball of his foot, mimicking what he would do if he had taken a shot to that side. "No, it's not wrapped right for her to have done it herself." He concluded, turning back to the situation at hand.

"The girl?" Mei mused, putting her kit away.

"We'll worry about that later." Bryan said, turning his back as Mei helped hoist the unconscious vixen onto his back, taking his rifle from him. "Lets get moving."

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"We didn't know what the hell happened to you guys!" Falco yelled, as Mei hoisted herself up out of the hole. She turned around, ignoring him, while Bryan handed off Krystal to her; hoisting himself up.

"Oh my... is she alright?" Falco's decibels had diffidently gone down between the first sentence and the next. "She will be. She's gonna have a headache when she wakes up, but her body will make the blood it needs to survive at this point. She's got nothing to worry about." Bryan answered, watching the medics carry off the blue vixen. Fox was just walking up to the scene, watching his mate go rolling by him on a gurney, he did a double take.

"Krystal! Oh my god... what happened..."

He turned to see Jackie pushing Carmen towards her unit. The handcuffs being the dead giveaway he needed. He rushed up to her, pushing Jackie aside, he roughly shoved Carmen onto the car, pulling her back up by her shirt. "You bitch! What did you do!" He slammed her hard into the car again. "What did you do!"

He was quickly pulled back and pinned to the ground by Falco, Dean, and Bryan. Mei pulled Carmen back to her feet, watching a small amount of blood creep onto the girl's jaws.

Fox still struggled against the three others until he felt a pop in his arm.

"Great." Falco moaned. "He's dislocated his shoulder."

"Hold still, Fox. This is going to hurt." Dean said, placing his knee at the joint, pushing it down hard. Fox growled in pain as the joint went back into place. Now he was turned over so he was facing up, looking right at Bryan.

"Hold your attacks off, got it? She didn't do anything to Krystal. If anything, without her, Krys wouldn't be here anymore."

"What?"

"They attacked the god damn house, Fox! Carmen's sister pulled Krystal into an underground bunker, even patched up her wounds until we got there!"

Fox stopped struggling all together and Falco helped her stand on is feet. He still favored his shoulder slightly, since the muscles in his arm had just been greatly confused as to where the bone was.

"Your sister... did that?" He asked, approaching Carmen.

She flinched, unsure of what he was going to do. "Yes... I taught her first aid incase anything ever happened." She answered quietly, still slightly shaken by the attack.

If had been a team-lead attack on her part, a close up encounter like that wouldn't had shaken her as much as it had. But since she was way out of her element, surrounded by cops without her team, she just couldn't hold her own too well.

Fox shook his head as he felt the migraine coming on. "Where do we go from here?"

"Simple," Brea said, jabbing her thumb in the general direction of Carmen. "Pump her for as much information as she knows."


	9. Untouchable?

"Alright, here's how it works. We ask the questions, you answer the questions. If you're lucky, maybe we might answer one of yours." Brea was trying to look as fierce as possible at the moment, trying to intimidate Carmen... it worked, a little.

"Fine." Carmen huffed, her cuffed paws on the table before her.

"First, what is your rank within Aramov's syndicate." Bryan asked, pen at ready to take notes.

"I made Major a few weeks back."

"Good, now, what do you have to say to our intel reports on 'cloned soldiers'?" Bryan asked.

"I'd say, fear them." Carmen responded. "They're not like me or my team. We might feel a very slight ping of guilt about having to kill some people, but they don't have that in them. They have no conscious."

"Does Aramov ever leave the compound?" Brea asked, stepping forward and away from the wall.

"Yes, twice a week she goes for a mid-afternoon lunch, though she never leaves the complex without her body guards. Fifteen of them, all armed."

Bryan checked his watch. If she was going today, she would be getting at her spot within the next half hour.

"Where does she go?" He asked, flicking the pen between his fingers.

"Small Town Café, on east and third. Sits in the same seat every time too. Her guards take up some other tables, some on the inside, others outside with her."

"When was her next trip?" Brea asked, leaning on the table, trying to hide her grin.

"Well... she never plans them but... I've noticed she likes to go on Tuesdays and Fridays. Also, any time it stops raining before one o'clock; she'll head out as well."

Brea had to put her hands to her muzzle to hide her grin. Was it really going to be this easy to catch Aramov?

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"No! I simply cannot allow it!"

"General Pepper - try to understand. We know their situation! We could take them all down now without a large fight!" Bryan was close to growling... so close...

"It is a public place. I can't allow you to have a shootout in a public place!" Pepper sighed, resting his head on his paws. "You know as well as I do that they won't go down without a fight. We also know you can't clear the area without them realizing you know. You just can't touch them there. Tail them if you must, but do not engage them in a public area."

"Fine. We won't engage them." He responded, smirking as he walked out of the General's office, leaving him to sit back in his chair. "What are you up to..." He wondered aloud, going back to work.

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Aramov carefully looked around her to make sure she was in the clear. Her men had taken up their spots around her, watching from every angle to make sure no one tried to take her on. She smiled to herself, ordering some bread while sitting back with her cup of tea.

The bread was set on her table shortly after it had been ordered. Lazily, she reached for it, pulling a slice from the basket, spreading the butter on it before taking a bite, looking down over the papers she had set in front of her.

She finished off that slice and was about to reach for the other. Unable to feel it in the basket, she looked up, to see a man sitting in the other seat, eating the other slice.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She hissed, glaring at him.

She couldn't see his eyes because of the dark sunglasses on his face, and the black shirt didn't give much away either. Instead, all she had to go on were what few facial features there was.

"I'm enjoying lunch on someone else's tab. Why, is there a problem?" He spoke.

Aramov hissed at him. "Filthy humans. Taking over everything. Go get your own table."

"I'm just fine here, thank you; though." Bryan grinned, knowing full well she couldn't tell who he was. For all he knew, she didn't even know his face, only a name.

"I wasn't asking." Aramov responded, almost ready to call her guards over to deal with the man.

"So much the better. Wouldn't have really made the difference anyway." Bryan tilted his head down, letting the glasses slide to the end of his nose, allowing him to peer at her over the top of them. "Would it, Aramov?"

Her smirk was more of surprise then pride. "And how do you know who I am?"

"I tend to know the names of those who go after me and my people. Makes the paperwork and death certificates a lot easier to fill out." Bryan responded, enjoying this a lot more than he should have. He leaned back, placing the glasses on top of his head.

"So, living out the last of your days trying to terrify me? Pitiful."

"I'm not dead yet."

"No, I suppose you're not. But, all in due time."

"We'll see." Bryan's tone turned hard in a moment, proving just how much he had to restrain himself from reaching across the table and strangling her.

"You can't touch me... you know you can't. Is that why you're so mad? Knowing I could shoot you right now and you would be powerless to stop me."

"Reality check, Aramov dear. You are unarmed. Think I jumped in this seat without a weapons scan? Oh, better yet, I have a team here with me. Ten around me, and six on the roofs, all armed. You're guys may get a shot off, but not before nine rattle them from the inside out."

"And you? I believe this is the first time I've seen you without a holster on your hip."

"It's there. You just didn't look hard enough."

The waiter set some food in front of Aramov, turning to Bryan. He waved him off before he could mutter a word.

Aramov didn't touch her meal, she was transfixed on the agent before her.

"So, how is that other girl taking her team mate's death?"

"You killed Kyle in cold blood. He hadn't done anything to threaten your organization. You are a coward. You fear us..."

"I fear nothing!"

"Really? Then why ask us to step out of the war? Why threaten us? Or a better question," he leaned in close. "why try to kill me?"

"You are nothing more than a fly. You annoy me."

"It's much more than that, and you know it." Bryan stood up, moving to walk past her. She twitched, about to reach up and grab him by his neck. But, Bryan was faster, grabbing her paw and twisting it behind her back, slamming her chest into the table.

"So strong. It's sad you won't work for me. You could do nicely in my ranks." She was playing it sweet with him now, her voice laced with something he didn't want to pick-up on.

"You kill for money. I kill for justice. To different sides of the law. I'll never join you ranks." Bryan hissed, releasing his grip and walking away, knocking over one of Aramov's guards in the process.

The terrorist straitened her blouse out, sitting back down and eating her meal. Only slightly shaken by the encounter.

Things were not turning out the way she had planned.

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Mei sat behind the glass. The long cold coffee cup sat on the table while she watched Carmen sit in the chair, still in the interrogation room. She just couldn't figure the girl out.

Did she join Aramov to protect her sister? And even so, why not find another way?

She sighed leaning back against the wall as the door opened. She opened one eye to see who has entered. It was a cop, probably from the local department, just checking on a prisoner.

Mei was still musing on Carmen's predicament. Was it really that possible that she had made that bad of a choice to protect the ones she loved? She found herself scoffing being she could stop herself.

"I'm one to talk." She whispered. "I'm the one who joined the Yakuza to protect someone."

Mei closed her eyes again until she heard a whimper. Now she was well aware of what was going on around her... it wasn't good.

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Carmen watched him screw on the silencer. It was true, Aramov knew... and she had sent her best assassin to kill her. "Carlos... please... I didn't have a choice!" She pled.

"You lie. You know the rules. We don't get taken alive." Carlos stated, it was a practiced speech. Carmen only whimpered.

"But I'm not like the others! I have someone who depends on me! I can't just commit suicide! It doesn't work like that!"

"You cannot commit it yourself. But I can make it look like that." The assassin spoke, backing her into a corner, pressing the barrel of the silencer to her chest. "It's too bad too, I kind of liked you."

Carmen panicked, thinking she was well done for. She heard the shot go off, but felt no pain.

_I'm... dead?_

She slumped to the floor, vaguely aware of Carlos slumping next to her as she cradled her head in her paws. She still couldn't figure it out. She heard the shot, yet felt no pain...

Meanwhile, Mei jumped through the shattered window, her weapon still trained on the would-be assassin. She checked for a pulse as a few more officers entered the room. She turned around, glad to recognize all of them before pulling Carmen to her feet.

"Call the morgue." She said, pulling the girl into the hallway. She checked her corners once before pushing Carmen against a wall, not in a threatening manner, but as to calm the ex-terrorist down.

"Hey." Mei tried once, before raising her voice. "Hey! You are okay! He didn't get you. It's alright." Carmen crumpled to the floor, starting to sob slightly.

"Everyone I've ever known is turning against me... and it's all because of you people."

"Listen to me. We're all you have now. They know you've told us everything we know. They're going to come after you and your sister. We can protect you, but you have to work with us!"

Mei was shoved back as Carmen stood, running for the main entrance just down the hall.

"Stop right there! Don't go out those doors!" Mei yelled.

Officers watched her run past unsure if they should open fire or not. Mei was only a few steps behind. Knowing full well she wouldn't catch up to Carmen in time she did the only thing she could think of.

"Forgive me." She whispered to herself, pulling her tazer from her belt, letting the electrodes fly through the air.

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Carmen still twitched every now and then. And while the medics had said she would be fine, she still felt like the electricity was flowing through her.

"It was either that, or shoot you dead."

"It's fine." Carmen huffed, rubbing her own arms. "I just had a momentary laps in my sanity. Too much stress, I guess."

"Now listen to me, alright? You aren't like the other terrorists we've dealt with. You still have a chance to turn your life around. Don't pull another stunt like that, and we'll be on good terms, got it?" Mei finished, watching as Bryan pulled his unit to a stop.

"Well, the hero returns. Bag us any good stuff?" Mei taunted, he scowled in return.

"No, but I think we've got her flustered. She knows that we can get close to her now... err, what the hell happened here anyway?" He asked, realizing that they were sitting on a gurney in the back of a medical rig.

"She shocked me." Carmen said, pointing at Mei.

"She ran down the hall like a mad fur." Mei said, pointing back at Carmen.

"Oh, and there's a dead assassin, other there." Mei finished, pointing at another ambulance.

Brea blinked a few times. "What happened... we're gone a couple of hours and these two are acting like long lost sisters."

Bryan sighed, shaking his head. "So, we leave Mei alone for a little while and she manages to turn the police station into a shooting range."

The Japanese girl just grinned. "All in a day's work, boss."

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What had started as a small sprinkle had turned into a hurricane-like storm. So, the snow was gone, only to be replaced with heavy, heavy rains. With visibility at an all time low, it was slow going on the way to the house.

Search lights and headlights combined still kept their line of sight down. Up ahead, Bryan caught what looked like break lights. The only problem was that they were vertical instead of horizontal, while a second set seem to be right next to them.

"What's this?" Brea asked as Bryan slowed the car down, she observed the car accident before looking over at him. "What do you want to do?" She asked.

"Five-five David. We've got an accident here, Trent and Eighth, possible major injuries. Roll medics."

"_Copy, dispatching medics, code three."_

"_Bryan? Want us to stop too?"_ Mei's voice came over the radio.

Bryan sat back for a moment. Mei was transporting Carmen in her unit. With only three in their convoy, his in the lead, to have Mei stop too could cause a major risk.

"Negative. Keep moving. Little ways down the road trade Carmen off to Jackie and double back. Got it?"

"_Copy that."_

"_38 here, I hear yah. Taking the package home after that I take it? Gonna have any cover?"_

"_I'll cover you Jackie."_ Dean broke in. _"I'm about 2 clicks over from you guys. Mean Eats diner. Just meet me in the parking lot."_

"_Copy Dean, moving to you."_ Jackie confirmed, Bryan watched them go past him as both him and Brea got out of the truck. The began approaching the other turned car.

Brea made a mental note of Mei's distance when she heard the first shot. Her keen eyes caught the blaster fired shot zooming towards Mei's unit. She was the first one to turn around, leaping hard and catching the roof cargo bar of their unit in a paw, flipping herself over the side, landing safely on the other. Bryan, leaped the hood of the car.

"Get moving! It's an ambush! Mei, hall ass!"

Tires squealed as Mei's unit sped off and Jackie slammed her own accelerator, spinning the car around. She sped right back to the others, pulling her car in next to theirs she took cover from the pot shots as well.

"_Dean, Jackie's gone back to help Bryan and Brea. Gonna need you to meet with me and cover my ass back to the house."_

"_Copy that. I'll be with you in forty-five seconds. Haulin' ass, code three."_

Bryan was returning fire from over the hood of the car along with Jackie and Brea. They're weren't pinned down by any means, instead, they were buying time. So long as another ambush wasn't set up, Mei, Carmen, and Dean would surely make it to the safe house. As soon as they safely arrived, they would put an end to the situation.

"Guys, if any of them try to get mobile, do whatever it takes to stop them!" Bryan called over the blaster fire. Jackie wrenched open her back passenger door, pulling out a few grenades and tossing them to the others.

The stingers and fragment grenades would diffidently come in handy.

When the blaster fire had ceased, Bryan poked his head out to see the car that was still right-side up back up and speed off. Bryan swore to himself, jumping into his car and speeding off while Jackie fired off a few rounds into the fleeing car, jumping into her own a few minutes later.

"_This is DCTU: 38 Delta. 55 David and 38 in pursuit of suspect vehicle involved in terrorist actions. Unknown number of armed suspects bearing automatic weapons. Suspects fleeing in a red sedan, tag number two-three-seven-macy-david-tom. Requesting additional units."_

Jackie stayed a safe distance behind Bryan's unit. Watching some of the local police join the chase.

"_55 David to dispatch. Stand by for emergency traffic."_

"_Copy. Ready to transmit. Destination?"_

"_Silver-227."_

"_Copy, transmitting."_

"_55 David to Silver-227. If you can hear me, need some help. Suspects fleeing."_

"Silver-227?" Jackie whispered to herself. "Who the hell... no agency we know."

"_Copy, Bryan. I've got your location. Ready when you are."_

"_On my signal. 55David to all units, fall back."_

Jackie did as she was told, watching as the suspects car sped through a red light at an intersection, she watched flames shoot through the rain, busting the four traction systems on the vehicle, causing it to skid out of control, flipping several times before resting on its roof.

Jackie gasped slightly. "Flames in the rain? Someone has some explaining to do."

She was out of her car now, back into the pouring rain. She blinked a few times, clearing the rain from her eyes as she caught on to Bryan's commands, pulling her weapon and approaching the toppled car slowly.

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"Alright, unless we just entered a video game, I want some answers." Jackie had pulled Bryan to the side while Brea watched the suspects being taken away by police.

He looked over his shoulder. Jackie followed his vision to see a silver wolf leaning on a car, parked slightly on the sidewalk just out of view of the intersection. She watched as the wolf idly twirled a finger through the rain. A small trail of flame in it's path.

"Who's that?"

"That's Silver. One of those... friends in high places, kind of thing." Brea answered.

"What is he, ex-military?"

Bryan grinned. "Something like that."

Jackie was about to ask another question, but felt it would just be smarter to stay quiet. Bryan turned around, heading over to the wolf, shaking his hand and saying a few worlds before Silver left and Bryan walked back over to the group.

"Lets get moving. Clean up crews have the scene now."

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It had been the first real meal of the week that didn't have something to do with ration bars. And hell, Bryan would be damned if it would see it go to waste.

"Easy, chief. I really don't feel like doing CPR today." Mei warned, only giving him a side glace. They were all doing something that they hadn't done in the longest time. They had taken over three tables to the local diner, two of which they filled, and a third had jackets and such on them.

"So, this is what you guys used to do? Hmm... seems like we've been invited into the inner circle guys." Fox joked, as the food was set before him. A freshly out of the hospital Krystal only grinned.

"So, any new business?" Falco asked.

"Other than the fact that Aramov will probably find a new restaurant to go to? Nope." Brea answered. "But we do know that Wolf will finally be out of the hospital next week."

"Yah, only to go into our custody with his daughter." Jackie offered. "Seems like we've been turned from a tactical unit to a safe house."

"We're the only ones who can offer the protection needed. Besides, once Aramov is out of the way, then we get to start charging rent." Dean laughed.

"Make some good cash off of that." Mei grinned.

"_Dispatch to 237 Ida. 911 just got a call about some yelling at 23 Raven road. Check it out?"_

"_Copy dispatch. 237, code two."_

The radio call went unnoticed by the DCTU agents as they continued on.

A few more laughs later, they all quieted down a little; only because of glances from other restaurant patrons.

"_237, requesting back-up. Suspect-"_

The radio fell silent, causing Bryan to hush everyone.

"_237 repeated, transmission cut off."_

"_237? Repeat, this is dispatch. Repeat, your last transmission cut off."_

Everyone glanced at the other. "This doesn't sound good."

"_Dispatch to all units in the Raven area. Respond code three to 23 Raven Road. Officer unresponsive on a possible high-risk call."_

"_Supervisor six to dispatch. Advise which back-up in route, we may need M-TAC on this one."_

"_Copy Supervisor six. M-TAC on alert."_

"_Copy. S-Six, responding code three."_

Bryan stood up, leaving the table for a moment. A minute or so later he returned with take-out containers, also having just paid the bill.

Collective groans went around the table when they realized it was time to go back to work.

They packed up their food and grabbed their jackets before piling into the units and heading back for base.

Bryan was already touching things on the GPS screen. After finding Raven Road, he found the address and placed a pilot beacon on it.

"_Supervisor six to Dispatch! Back-up requested! 237 is down! I repeated, 237 is down! We need medics and M-TAC ASAP! The suspect has barricaded himself, his mate, and three kids in the house."_

"_Copy S-Six. M-TAC will be alerted."_

"_Copy."_

"_All units, all units, respond to 23 Raven Road. Officer requesting assistance, code three."_

"_Supervisor six to dispatch. ETA on M-TAC."_

"_M-TAC is unavailable at this time."_

"_Damn it, we need someone here now! We can't get into this house with our current gear."_

"_M-TAC won't be available for another hour."_

Bryan glanced over to Brea who simply nodded as he flicked on his lights and siren, slamming the accelerator while pulling the e-brake, Bryan spun his SUV around, ending in the other lane facing the other way as he sped off. The others fallowed suit, turning around before speeding off.

"55 David to Dispatch. Advice which units available and on scene. DCTU will be responding, code three, BCC on TAC one." Bryan called into the radio.

"_Copy, ETA?"_

"No more than three minutes."

"_S-Six to DCTU, 55 David; when you guys get here you've got full command."_

"Copy."

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Mei was feeling the adrenaline rush in full force now. It had been a while since she had strapped on the light vest and tight clothes, strapping the silenced weapon to his thigh and attaching the radio Comlink to her ear.

She looked over her shoulder to see Dean load the clip into his automatic weapon, sliding back the bolt and releasing it. He was armed now.

She reached behind herself, ruffling her short hair a little before letting the grin take over her face. She just loved just job... maybe a little too much at time.

"Alright, here's what we know." Bryan had hung the building plans off the raised tailgate of his Suburban, pointing out area on the map. "Best point of entry is here; through the sky light in the back. Since all we know is that the armed suspect is in the front, we'll have to assume he won't know where we're at."

He turned to Mei. "You and Dean will get in through there. Use your glass cutters and lower yourselves in. Clear the back of the house first, then try to find the hostages. If they're with the suspect, don't engage, leave that to the assault element. However, if they are separated, lead out who you can, got it?"

Mei and Dean nodded, both starting their jog to the back of the house. Unnoticed by the suspect.

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Mei pulled the suction cup from the pack on her back. Applying it to the glass she reached back again, this time pulling out a laser. Manually, she made a circle pattern around the suction cup; just big enough for her and Dean to get through.

Putting the laser away, she pulled on the suction cup, lifting the circular cut glass up and off to the side. Next she stuck her head in, seeing that the room was dark and no one in it; she grasped the sides of the hole, flipping the rest of her body through it and landing silently on the floor below.

Dean dropped in a moment later, not as silent as she had been, but silent enough.

She pulled out her silenced weapon, turning it's flashlight on to look around the room.

"Oh my god." She gasped to herself. "TOC, be advised, suspect has various torture things in his house. Some I can only say to be caked in dried blood." She raised her flashlight to the wall and felt a vile amount of vomit coming up her throat. "He also has pictures of kids being raped... looks like be himself."

"_Copy."_ Bryan's voice came back to her. _"Take a deep breath Mei. Do you need to pull out? We can always assault the house."_

She felt Dean put a hand on her shoulder. She shook her head a moment.

"No, we'll be fine." She responded, padding her way to the door. She opened it to find herself in a hallway.

Dean fell back into the shadows as Mei clicked off her flashlight, pacing her way down the hallway by herself, poking her head around the corner. She signaled to Dean that it was clear and they continued on.

They passed, and cleared, two other rooms before the hallway took another turn. They stopped at the turn as they heard a creaking noise. Mei poked her head out enough to see the suspect walking in their direction. She turned to Dean with a wide look in her eyes.

In a matter of seconds, a decision had been reached just as the suspected turned the corner. Neither of the agents were anywhere to be seen. As he passed around the corner and into the back room.

A small sigh came from the ceiling of the hallway as Mei dropped back down after holding herself up there for so long. Dean came out of the closet he had been hiding in.

Now they entered the room they had seen him leave.

"Oh, man..." Mei groaned, seeing the small streak of fresh blood on the wall. They were in a bedroom now. Dean covered the door as Mei cleared the room, ending at the bed.

"TOC, be advised, we've got a hostage." She said, leaning over to check for vitals. "She's alive, but not by much." Mei said to herself, pulling her first aid kid from her pack.

The hostage groaned when Mei applied the bandage. The noise was quickly silenced by a hand over the muzzle. "Shhh..." Mei soothed. "We're the police. We're going to get you out."

"The kids?" Mei was asked, weakly.

"We haven't found them yet... you're his mate... aren't you?"

"Yes... you have to get the kids out of here... you don't know what he's done to them."

Mei's anger rose a level.

"Are they injured?" She asked quickly.

"Not now... but before..."

Images flashed before Mei's eyes as she realized. "Oh my god... those pictures..."

"So you've seen them... you have to get the kids out!"

"Shhh... don't worry. We'll get everyone out."

Mei turned to face Dean as she spoke into her radio again.

"TOC, Hostage secure. Have medics on stand-by."

"_Copy, any sign of the suspect?"_

"He went past a minute ago. Want us to engage?" Mei asked, silently hoping he said yes.

"_How bad is the hostage injured?"_

"There's blood everywhere... and then there's that room..."

"_Alright, you know where he is now?"_

"Behind us somewhere. The kids are in the front of the house from what I gather."

"_Alright, we'll raid the house for the kids. Engage the suspect."_

"Copy."

"_And Mei, remember, you're still a cop. Don't go too nuts, got it?"_

And then Mei growled. "I'll try."

She strode past Dean, who had to blink a few times before catching up with her. They stood outside the room they had last seen him enter and she pressed her ear to the door before nodding to Dean; who easily took it down with his boot.

"Police!" Dean yelled, bursting in the room after Mei.

When the suspect made no move to turn around nor get down Mei pressed the barrel of her pistol to his head.

"Get down before I put you down." She hissed before grabbing his forearm, throwing him down.

"TOC, this is entry team," Dean reported. "Suspect secure and ready to trailers."

"_Copy."_

He turned around to see that Mei had him cuffed, on the ground, staring up at her... or rather into the barrel of her pistol.

"Mei, don't you do it!" Dean pled.

Her entire body was pulsing. Oh how much she wanted to pull that trigger.

"You beat your mate... you raped your kids... and now you defy me..." She hissed, her finger twitched, sending the round from the clip, out the barrel... and into the floor just six centimeters away from the suspects head. "And I hope you fry in hell." She finished, holstering her weapon.

It was Dean's turn to sigh.

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A/N: Alright guys, just a little bit of side stuff for now. Tell you what though, depending on the number of reviews I get for this chapter will depend what happens next.

One Review: Nothing

Two Reviews: A short-ish chapter, not much action, mostly talk and spy stuff.

Three Reviews: All of the above. Longer chapter, action, no character death.

Four or More Reviews: All of the above. Chapter length based off of number of reviews. Every 2 after 4 will equal three pages of standard text.

Now, review!


	10. C J M

"Whoa! Easy, Mei! You never were a good drinker." Jackie said, pulling the glass away.

Mei just huffed. "I need it. You don't know how much I wanted to just nail him in the forehead."

"You did good." Jackie confirmed. "It's over. The kids and the girl are safe. You did good."

"So? Now what?"

"Well... Bryan is planning some sort of attack on Aramov. I don't think we're going with or normal tactics."

"What?"

"Well... I've only heard the story but... remember Salt Lake City?"

Mei shuddered. "Yah, they turned the entire city into a week long war zone." She said, suddenly cringing. "I remember after that, Bryan made us swear that we would take the threat out way before it ever got like that again... but... you don't think he'll really do it... will he?"

"You have to admit, it would be extremely easy for him to do it."

"And that's what worries me."

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"You really are considering this?" Silver asked, an almost wide look in his eyes after seeing the drawing board.

"I don't see why not. If this doesn't take out Aramov, it will at least take out a number of her troops." Bryan answered.

"I still don't like it."

"Well then don't help."

"I didn't say that."

"Look, it's a lot simpler than it seems. Now that Aramov knows we can get close to her, she's going to want to move a few things. That's means a convoy. If we hit it just right, we can wipe out some troops, or maybe even take down Aramov."

"And what about friendly losses? You'll suffer a few if you take them head on."

"If we plan this right, we won't lose anyone. But... in any case... this is a war."

"You wouldn't be saying that is Brea got killed in this little plan of yours."

Bryan glared at the wolf. "Leave her out of this."

"Look, all I'm saying is that if you go about things like this, you're going to lose." Silver finished, patting Bryan on the shoulder before walking out of the room.

Bryan looked over his plan again, then, he clicked the clear button, starting anew.

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Brea pulled the until to a stop outside the police barricade. She hopped out, stretching slightly before walking under the police tape.

"Good to see you found the place, inspector." A cop greeted her, holding his paw out.

"It really wasn't that hard. Truth be told, we've been eyeing this place for a month."

"Well, looks like your suspicions were correct. We entered the place to look for survivors, no one left, but we did find some interesting propaganda. Thought you might wan to take a look."

"Did your men touch anything?" Brea asked, seeing the second unit pull up to the left of hers.

"Not a thing. We all know that DCTU is taking care of things." He excused himself just as Jackie walked up, Fox in tow. Brea took notice of Mei in the passenger seat.

"She gonna get out any time soon?" Brea asked, nodding towards the girl in the car.

"Lets just say... Mei has vowed never to drink again." Jackie affirmed, a grin tugging at the sides of her mouth. Brea just smiled in return, turning to welcome Fox before walking towards the house.

The cop at the door lifted up the tape for them, allowing the three access.

"Not a big house... three rooms. Don't tell me these four shared a bed room." Jackie said, looking around. She also caught the look on Fox's face.

"Man, I would hate to have your sense of smell right now. I can already smell the blood full force." She said, pulling a flashlight from her belt. She clicked it on and pointed it at the nearest wall.

"Man, either that's blood red paint or..." She trailed off, leaving the sentence in the air.

"You guys might want a look at this." Brea called from the kitchen.

Jackie and Fox walked in there. It was a rather spacious compared to the rest of the house. The back window has been broken and four bodies littered the floor. They had obviously been killed there, but injured throughout the house.

On the counter sprawled in blood was an insignia of some kind. It was written in the blood and symbolized a fox-tail with an arrow tip.

"Think Dracous can place that image?" Jackie asked, turning to Brea.

"No need," Fox answered. "It's Calita McCloud."

"What?" Brea asked.

"Who?" Jackie quickly echoed.

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"Calita J. McCloud. Joined the military two years out of Corneria Tech, specialized in stealth operations... her crew had been whipped out fifteen years ago. Though her body wasn't among the dead. The military had assumed that she had been taken hostage. But with no demands ever issued to them, they assumed she had been killed." Dracous was reading things off via video phone.

"Why didn't they think she had compromised her own team?" Jackie asked, wincing as the words left her mouth.

"Simple, anyone who knew her knew that she was beyond fiercely loyal to Corneria. Always the first in battle." Dracous answered, just as Fox came back into the room.

"So, then why resurface now? Why not during the original Darkness incident?" Bryan asked, his armed folded and he was leaning in his trademark fashion.

"That I can't tell you. Which I could give you guys more, but with her KIA status, the military just stopped keeping records on her."

"Alright, what about the symbol?" Dean asked, holding the picture up close.

"I can answer that." Fox said. "It's a play of our own Star Fox symbol. While ours was based off a god, Calita's was based off a demon. Sirius, the demon of silence and darkness. Her entire team used it, but it was her idea. See the tail turned spears? Those are supposed to represent the stealth kill part, while the fox itself represents the cunning and wit required to run the operation." Fox sighed. "I just wish I know what she was up to... I mean... all these years."

Brea sat down next to him, patting him on the back.

"She's your sister, isn't she?"

Fox simply nodded.

"Alright, for now, we keep all of this info from the press. It's bad enough they have Aramov to deal with, the last thing we want to do is tell everyone that a specialized stealth killer is on the loose and we don't know what she wants." Bryan stated, putting a few papers into a folder. "Dean and Mei should take a trip back to the house, see if anything else is there." There was a pause in his sentence. "Where is Mei?"

"She's recovering, chief." Jackie gave Bryan a sheepish grin. He seemed confused for a second before groaning.

"How many?"

"Just two, but it really got to her."

"Alright, take her place, okay, Jackie?"

"Sure thing. Just let me grab my keys."

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"I don't understand... She's back?" If Aramov had been confident before, but now she was learning that she just might have mistaken it for cockiness.

"That's how it appears. Our sources within the police department matched the symbol. Calita is back, Aramov." The gray colored fur said, sitting in the seat with a leg propped up on his knee.

"Man... everything is going to shit real fast. DCTU is closing in, Carmen's been taken alive, and what's worse is that now Calita is on our asses. We need to fix this Naoki!"

"I'm not sure we can, Aramov. DCTU was bad enough, but now Calita? And what if she employs a few of her old contacts? Never mind if they run a joint force with DCTU. We can only survive so many attacks."

"So... what can we do?"

"For now? Keep our guard up. We can't let them know they have us flustered."

"We have to mount some sort of offensive attack! We can't just sit her with our tail between our legs!"

"Hmmm... well... I suppose if you were desperate enough you could pull a last stand. Gather the girth of your forces and take over some sort of complex."

"I see what you mean... instead of taking over Corneria, we'll leave our imprint in the history books. I like it..."

"You're okay with the fact that they'll probably take you out?"

"If I can take a few hundred lives with me, I'll be fine." Aramov said, grabbing for the base's intercom microphone.

"Attention, men and women alike. Get ready, our day has come!"

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Mei held the ice pack up to her head, wincing slightly.

"Oh man... never drinking anything tie-dye green again." She said, Katt set a tall glass of liquid in front of her. Mei eyed the color before looking up at the feline. "And tie-dye red is just so different."

Katt laughed. "Drink it. I used to have to make it all the time for Falco when he was on his drinking habit. It can cure a handover that would have even a god down."

Mei eyed the glass again before giving Katt a suspicious look. "Well... if you say so..." She guessed, putting the glass to her lips before taking a breath and drinking it down in a few swallows.

She gagged a little as the suddenly sour taste filled her mouth.

"You're alright." Katt assured her. "Now, take a nap for an hour, you'll be fine when you wake up."

Mei sighed, rolling onto her side, throwing the ice pack onto the table next to her. "Think Bryan is mad at me for this?"

"Not at all... right now he's at Military HQ talking to General Pepper. Told me to keep an eye on you."

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"The fact is that as of right now, we're in the dark. We don't know where they'll hit and when, all we know is that they will."

General Pepper leaned into his hands, closing his eyes for a minute in deep thought.

"Any chance of a first strike?"

"Not a one. Without proof we can't hit their base, and we would like to be able to take Aramov alive, however it will be extremely difficult."

Bryan turned around after hearing his name called and a shushing sound right after it.

James stood in the doorway of classmates and a teacher who grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry, General. I tried to keep him quiet."

"Don't worry about it." Pepper said, then to Bryan. "We'll continue this later." Bryan nodded, before moving to leave the room. Rubbing and messing up James' hair in the process.

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"Wait!"

Bryan stopped in his tracks, turning around to see James running after him.

"Hey, pal. Shouldn't you stay with the group?"

"The teacher said I could come out and talk if I wanted to."

Bryan nodded. "So, what's on your mind little man?"

"Well it's just... Dad seems really tense lately. We never talk like we used to and he's never around. I kind of miss him. I even had to get Brea to sign my permission slip to let me come on this field trip!"

Bryan kneeled down slightly so that he was eye level with James.

"I know what it's like kid. All it is, is the stress of the job he's tackling. Don't worry, it won't be happening too much longer. Soon we'll be done and gets lots of vacation time."

"I hope so..." James turned on his heel, heading back for the double doors. "Bye!"

Bryan turned half way back to his car before shaking his head, he sighed, and got in.

He felt extremely good about himself at that point. He felt safe that Aramov wouldn't attack for a little while longer.

He didn't know just how wrong he was.


	11. Semper Fi :: PART 1

Bryan woke up to the sound of an alarm going off. He had dozed off on the couch and was now being shaking, violently, by someone.

"Get up! There's been an attack!" Krystal was yelling at him.

He rubbed his eyes before rolling onto his side... and off the couch.

"Whenever your ready, we'd like to go." By the sound of her voice, Brea wasn't in much a mood either.

"What's going on?" Bryan asked, snapping to his senses and pulling himself off the floor.

"Dracous called a few minutes ago, Aramov's troops have stormed Military HQ. They picked the worse day to do it too since most of the base's troops are out on assignment. Only a few select reserve troops were left behind." Falco said.

"Didn't James' trip to the base happen today?" Krystal suddenly asked, looking around for an answer, worried.

"Oh my god..." Brea gasped.

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"I need you to stay behind the line!"

Cops were yelling at the press as the DCTU convoy rolled past.

"As you can see, the police have called in the big guns today. DCTU, Corneria's M-TAC on the go, has arrived to take control and eliminate the threat." Bryan had overhead the reporter as the drove under the line and past him.

"Alright guys, we've got high ranking officials, workers, and school children in that building. There is just no room for error today." Bryan stated, looking out among his own troops. "And it gets better. Two of our own are trapped inside that building. They've noted that almost fourteen pounds of Syntax is planted around the building. We all know what that can do."

"Wait a minute." Mei broke in. "Who's inside?"

"Well for one, Bill. Not to mention that Katt was here dropping off paperwork." Bryan answered, noticing Mei's glance at the building. "It's safe to say that they won't be targeted since they're not really an official part of our main DCTU group." He said, trying to put her fears at rest.

"Also, we're going to have to ask Fox and Krystal to sit this raid out."

"What?" Fox yelled. "Why? That's our kid in there!"

"Exactly. You have way too much emotion in there. We can't risk you getting yourself killed." Brea responded, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You trust us, right?" She asked.

"Today is going to be a very big day for us guys. Even with the troop presence, we're going in groups of two, three at max. Split into your elements and get into position. We raid in half an hour."

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"Now look," Silver said, pointing to the blue prints of the building. "Camera and CYPHER surveillance tells us that no one is roaming the compound past the main offices. This also tells us that the hostages are being kept in one of the two floors for the bomb shelter below the Military base. Anyone outside that place is a guard."

"What's our mission directive?" Jackie asked.

"Simple. Sweep and save. Kill any terrorist, save any hostage. We do not take prisoners today. With a single exception, Aramov. If we can, we take her alive."

Bryan felt a tap on his shoulder, only to find who he least expected behind him.

"Carmen! What are you doing here!"

"I came to help. Listen, Aramov's troops are tried to an extent. Chances are most of her higher ups will be with her in the bunker, along with the explosives. However, she isn't that smart with demolition. Knowing her, the main charge will be there, but the smaller, more damaging charges will be up in the main base." She paused. "How is this stupid, you may ask? Cutting power to the upper floors will disable the smaller charges. As for the main charge? If you can get into the bunker, a simple jamming signal will take care of the main charge. Explosives aside, her patrols are your main concern. If they're a 'natural' soldier, then a simple kill shot will do it. Cloned? Use some sort of electrical charge to short out the wiring in their brain." Carmen said.

"Like a tazer?" Mei asked, holding her's up.

"Exactly. Since they're all controlled by her, they receive live orders via COMlink. Short them out, or destroy the hub, you're set."

"Thanks." Bryan said. "Now, get back behind the barrier."

"What, not even a kiss on the cheek?" Carmen asked, only to hear a low growl coming from Brea. "Easy! I was only joking!" She said, heading for the units.

"Lets get moving." Brea said, grabbing Bryan by his arm. Silver following them, securing the straps for his vest.

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"Everything is clear and the smaller charges are disabled." Mei reported, pulling her knife from the throat of a guard that got a little to close to her. She wiped the blade on her camouflage pants before putting the knife back in it's guard.

Dean was so used to the spray of blood to follow that he didn't even cringe.

"_Copy. We're just about set here too. See if you can't get that elevator up and running."_

"I hear that boss." Mei said, heading for the computer terminal to her left. She plugged a small device into one of the ports and typed a few commands into the computer. A few seconds later it beeped twice.

"Elevators are back on-line. Though the displays aren't They'll never see us coming."

Meanwhile, Bryan, Brea, and Silver were done clearing General Pepper's office.

They were just about to walk out the door when Brea stopped in her tracks.

"Smell that?" She asked, looking back in on the office.

"Actually... yah, what is that?" Silver asked, looking in the same direction.

"Smell's like Katt's perfume." Brea answered, looking at Bryan sideways as he sniffed the air.

"I can't smell it."

"Yah well I can... and it's still strong... She's around here somewhere." Brea said, looking around before bolting to the farthest corner of the room, looking at a couple of the framed documents.

She slung her rifle over her shoulder, grinning as she turned the degree sideways and the trap door slid open. Bryan and Silver entered with their flashlights on their weapons on and forward.

Katt covered her eyes as the light blinded her, her other arm gripping the child in her arms tighter. She cringed fearing her end until the light was lowered and her eyes focused a little better.

"Heh," She said with a sheepish grin. "Hey guys... working hard?"

"Yah, you two alright?" Silver asked, kneeling down as Brea entered the room too.

"Yah, Pepper showed us this when the first shots were fired. They took him away though... Bill too."

"We'll find them. You sure you're alright?" Bryan said, reaching for his radio.

"Positive."

"Guys, we've found Katt and James. They were held up in a hidden room in the General's office. No sign of Pepper nor Bill though. Intel says they were taken into the shelter."

"_Copy. Trailers incoming."_

Bryan nodded. "Alright, stay out of sight you too. Got it?"

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The occasional access light was the only thing that lighted up the tunnel as the ten or so agents rode on top of the elevator.

"Alright guys. We're going to face heavy resistance in tight quarters. We may suffer a loose or two... but if you guys didn't know that or didn't accept it, you wouldn't be here... would you..." Bryan said.

A collective nod and sigh took over the group.

The elevator came to a stop and the doors below opened. They looked at each other from a last time before any of them spoke.

"Anything anyone wants to get off their chest before we rush in?" Brea asked.

"Yah, actually." Mei said, turning to Dean. "You're a real pain in the ass some times, you know that? But... I wouldn't want anyone else covering me." She finished. Dean simply nodded in agreement.

"As for me? I have to say that my life was normal until I met you crazy people. There was no furs, no daily gun fights, and diffidently no fire throwing wolves... but with all that said... I really can't imagine things any other way." Jackie said, being sure to point out Silver.

"You know Bryan... you never did answer me." Brea said, leaning into him slightly.

"That's true isn't it..." He said, an arm going around her shoulder.

"Well, since it's a possibility that we're both the last people we're ever going to see... want to answer me now?" She asked. Bryan just shook his head.

"If I keep you waiting, you'll fight harder to stay alive." He said with a grin, jumping through the access panel and into the elevator. already firing shots.

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"The police are raiding!" A guard called out before his skull exploded due to the impact from a round fired from Brea's M4. Everyone was firing full force, covering as the other reloaded and so on.

Bryan felt a few rounds impact his vest, and they stung, but he kept moving forward. They turned another hallway and kept moving, killing guards as they went.

It was a complete war zone down there. Shots were exchanged at a rapid pace between the forces as DCTU advanced foot by foot. Bodies littered the ground as they hit the set of doors that would lead down to the second bunker floor.

"Dean, Mei, Jackie, and Falco. Hang back with the hostages. If our intel is right, only Aramov and three of her generals are below. Get the hostages out. Got it?"

"Only three of you, Bryan? You sure?" Mei asked. "What if our intel is wrong and there's more than that..."

"Then our names will be appearing on the Fallen Hero's Wall outside our building, right next to Kyle's. Now go!"

The four nodded, jogging back to the hostages. Bryan turned to face the door, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves.

"This is it guys. We go in, we shoot and kill, or we die. If you're scared, now's the time to say so."

Silver just grinned. "You kidding me? I live for this. Sides, there isn't anyone else I'd rather die next to with honor then you guys."

"What about you Brea?"

The feline gulped, taking a step forward before mumbling something and kicking the door with her boot, effectively opening it. She stepped inside, crouching in the stairway, waiting for the males.

"What did she just say?" Silver asked, turning to Bryan and noticing the look on his face.

"_Semper Fi_." He repeated, following her in.

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"Think they're alright?" Mei asked as they rode the elevator back up with the hostages.

"I say as soon as we get these guys to the barricade we come right back down." Falco said, noticing Dean cradling his shoulder. "Something wrong?"

"Looks like my adrenaline rush is wearing thin. Looks like I took a hit." He said, applying pressure to stop the bleeding. Mei handed him a bandage. "Yah well, don't die yet. Bryan would kill you if you did."

Dean grunted and nodded in response.

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Brea was panting hard as she gripped her rifle tighter.

"Man! That was a firefight!" She called over to Bryan who nodded and looked over his shoulder.

"How you doing, Silver?"

"I'll be fine." The wolf grunted. "Just a scratch... and if not... who's complaining?"

"You know... you three have been noting but trouble to me." A voice came from behind the closed doors ahead. The opened to reveal Aramov, safely behind some sort of shield.

"Ah, the head bitch herself." Brea grumbled, her rifle ready to fire.

"Put a leash on your cat." Aramov chuckled to Bryan, only to jump as four rounds bounced off her shield.

"It would appear that you have taken out more of my men... I am most displeased."

"What can I say... they were fools to follow you." Bryan threw back.

"Maybe." And she brushed the hit right off. "But they are dead, so they have no say."

She pushed a button and the shield flickered as the doors shut slowly.

"I have a chopper waiting for me, I really must go." She said as the shield disappeared slowly and four shots were heard.

Bryan flinched at first, only to realize he wasn't hit. Though he could clearly see Aramov grinning. He looked over and almost tossed his lunch.

"Brea!" He yelled rushing to her side. She was breathing, thankfully, but the shots looked painful.

"I'm fine." She whispered. "You only die once." She reassured him.

Bryan turned to see the elevator Aramov was stationed in starting to move up. The heavy steel doors starting to close as well. He looked back at her as the door swung open and Mei, Dean, and Jackie all rushed in.

Bryan layed Brea back down for Mei to take care of as he ran to the doors. He looked back one last time, whispering so only Brea could hear.

"Yes."

And with that, he jumped the gap, grabbing on to the service ladder, just as the doors slid closed.

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A/N: Second to last chapter here! Last one will be longer, this one is just setting up for the last one.

For anyone who doesn't know, or is wondering, _Semper Fi_ means 'always loyal' or 'always faithful'. It's used by the US Marine Corps as a way of saying that you're never alone on the battlefield. It's hard to explain it in text without conveying the deepness of the meaning to anyone who's ever heard it and understood the meaning as deep as some do.

Anyone in a high risk job, such as an Emergency Service or SWAT, or even in the Military as well knows just how much these words mean to you when it comes from a teammate.

Till next time.


	12. Semper Fi :: PART 2 :: Final Life

A/N: Final chapter guys. And before I get asked if there will be a third - no - there won't be one. However I was thinking of writing an original based off of DCTU's days on earth and posting it at FictionPress. Not sure yet... anyway - here's the final chapter. See all of you later.

Oh, and review!

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He was hidden in the back compartment of the chopper as it flew off towards whatever destination they were headed for. He had been able to sneak on, but had lost his radio in the process. He groaned.

"Man, I feel like I'm back in the SEALs." He whispered. "Deployment, no team, and no contact until the end of the mission. Just great."

He sighed, pulling his sidearm from it's holster and checking it's clip. He added a few rounds to make up for fired ones before holstering it again. Then he pulled the knife from it's holder, gripping the grip and pulling it off. He pulled another nine-millimeter round from his pack, sliding it into it's hidden slot before applying the grip again.

"Thanks Ivan." He whispered to himself. Clicking the safety on again, sliding the knife back into it's holder.

He jolted slightly hearing a change in the choppers motor.

They were landing.

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"Where are they going?" Jackie muttered. She was following the chopper on the ground in her unit. Two other units behind hers, each packed with armed forces ready to do battle.

Seeing the chopper change paths, she followed it as best she could; watching it land she pulled to the side of the road. Killing her engine.

The building was quite large, ten stories at the top. Mei reached for the radio.

"Anyone able to scan the building for life. Heat sig or something..."

"_I'm already on it. Using the SATLink. Hold tight."_

"While it's good to have you back Bill, get moving. We don't have long."

"_Almost done. Just hold on."_

Mei restocked her ammo and medical supplies. Just in time to hear some breaking glass. She looked up to see that the ninth floor had bullet holes in the windows and that a floor below it, someone was falling - fast.

Jackie cringed as the impact was heard. She quickly ran up, seeing that it was a fur dressed in black fatigues. That symbol from Calita on his chest.

"Calita's troops?" She whispered, checking for a pulse.

"_Scans complete. Looks like you've got a fire fight on the ninth floor and three hot bodies on the tenth. Cross checking the codecs with the heat sig, I'd say Bryan's been tied up either by Aramov or someone else... That third wheel seems to be moving slowly though."_

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Bryan groaned, shaking his head from side to side in an attempt to quell the ache.

"You're good... I'll give you that. But I am superior in every way." Aramov hissed, holding his sidearm in her hand.

"Superiority doesn't count when you blindside your target. The true warriors fight with honor." He retorted, pulling at his binds.

"Yes well... Honor is for the weak." She grinned, tossing his weapon towards the window, breaking it in the process as the weapon fell to the street below. He was completely unarmed now... well, almost.

"I'd strip you of that knife too, but I really don't think you'll be able to get close enough to use it."

"What a pity."

"Yes, what a pity. So, how does it feel to once again, be this close, and be unable to touch me? This must be really maddening."

"If only you knew." Bryan got out, just as the door shattered into pieces.

He hoped it was from one of Brea's satchel charges. His hopes went unanswered. Though the outcome still wasn't bad.

"You!" Aramov yelled, seeing whoever it was in the doorway. Bryan felt a claw on his arm, another grabbing hold of his squirming hands.

"Yes, me." A female voice answered.

"You're supposed to be dead! I made sure of it when I had your team whipped out!" Aramov yelled. Bryan's brain snapped right to who was behind him. _Calita!_

"What have you been up to. I'm disappointed Aramov; taking counter-terrorism agents hostage? I thought you were bigger than that."

Now the claw had slipped to the key lock on Bryan's binds. It was obvious they were picking it.

"Besides, what use is he going to be when he's dead? You know damn well his teammates will rush in here and take you out."

"They will meet heavy resistance on they're way up here. They will not survive."

"What your guards? My team already has them done for. You'd be surprised what people will do for friends. I called a few military contacts I had, got myself a few ex-marines to work with."

Bryan lowered his head. He played out a few scenarios in his head. Each counted on him being able to get his one shot to land. In any case, if it didn't, he would only have a split second in which to duck low and throw the knife.

Not very good odds.

He sighed and looked up again. Now Aramov was standing near a window, her weapon trained on him as she looked over the edge. "Crazy bitch..." She muttered, looking back at him.

"Too bad too, she probably would have been able to save you..."

He looked over his shoulder. Calita must of thrown herself out the window.

He shifted his shoulder slightly in order to be able to twist his wrist just right to grab the grip of the knife. He didn't pull it yet, he waited for her fatal moment to come.

Aramov rubbed her eyes before looking right at him.

"Hmmm... it would appear it's just me and you again. How long do you think it will take for your team to figure out where you are and raid the building? By now, I'd say about four minutes. Have to be sure to do away with you by then."

She raised her weapon, pointing it at him. He braced his boots on the floor and tightened his muscles in order to bring his reflexes to their maximum. Her wicked grin wasn't lost on him at all.

She fired just as he kicked off the ground. The chair's back legs catching the floor as he planned causing it to fall backwards. As soon as he felt the ground hit his back he pushed off the floor, finishing the roll, putting him back on his feet in a crouch, the knife pulled and held like a K-bar combat knife.

"Really Aramov, you still can't kill me? You should see these things coming by now." He taunted, staying low to the ground.

"You are beyond annoying! Sit still so I can kill you!" She yelled firing again. This time he jumped, causing the shot to go under him. Landing, he rolled to the right, hiding behind a pillar.

"Hmm, I wonder if all DCTU agents are that nimble. I'll be sure to find out as the hunt the rest of the down... but only after I kill you first."

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Jackie watched the second body fall from the top floor. Though, this one was different. By the sixth floor it had flipped itself parallel to the wall and appeared to have grabbed on. Some sort of camouflage took effect as the figure disappeared as someone else stuck their head out the glass.

"What I wouldn't give for a sniper rifle right about now." Mei hissed, recognizing the dead swish of the subjects tail. "That bitch has him up there... we need to get in there! Now!"

Jackie had to hold her back.

"We can't get in there! Remember, the doors are wired to blow! And the Ground-to-Air missiles on the roof make a roof entry impossible. For now, we're just going to have to trust him. Not much more we can do."

Mei growled, walking to her unit and slamming the door as she jumped into the driver's seat. She just sat there.

Jackie could have sworn she was pouting.

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"Stay here!" Fox yelled, hopping into one of the police cars, taking the driver's seat.

"Wait! Fox! What are you doing! You can't steal that car!" Krystal called, nearly chasing him into the street. "Get back here!" She yelled, her voice falling on deaf ears. She looked around, growling to herself as she too, jumping into the driver's seat of a police car, taking off.

James sat in the same ambulance as Katt, Silver, and Brea. All the while wondering just what his parents were up to.

Silver turned to the black cat to his left. "Semper Fi... what does it mean?"

Both Brea and Katt looked up at him. Only Brea vocalizing her thoughts. "What's that?"

"Semper Fi. You said it before we continued on... it seemed to have a profound effect on Bryan. What does it mean?"

Brea took a breath. "Long time ago, Bryan was in the Marines. When I was still human, I served under him. Semper Fi is a term used by the Marines. It means 'Always loyal'. We used to say it a lot. It reminded us that no matter what we could always count on the team to get us out of any situation we got ourselves into."

"So it has a deep meaning for you two I take it?"

"It's more than it seems... I'll tell you that."

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"You know, you aren't going to kill me, Aramov."

"Oh? And why's that? Wait... could it be the black cat waiting for you? If she isn't dead you, I'll be sure to wipe her out next. Besides, why would you want to go back to that anyway? Haven't you heard? Black cats are bad luck."

Bryan growled as he clicked off his safety.

"If that's the case, I'm willing to let that bad luck rub off on you." He hissed, rolling out from the pillar, landing somewhere near an unbroken window. He stood, the knife now held strait out, almost like he was calling Aramov out.

"You have to understand, we've yet to lose." He taunted, making sure to smirk.

"You keep forgetting. This isn't some bullshit storyline. You can't simply backspace your death and make it into something spectacular. You die, that's it. Place the period there. You won't make it out of here."

"You sure about that?"

"I'm positive! You brought a knife to a gun fight! What part of that says you win?"

"Aramov, you have no imagination. This knife happens to have come from a good friend of mine... in fact it's the same one you killed. Maybe you don't remember him, but I'm sure bad karma remembers you!" He yelled, clicking the trigger button down, the round flying from the hidden chamber and imbedding itself deep within Aramov's chest.

The terrorist leader stumbled back a foot, grasping at the hole left behind by the surprising round. "But... how? I was supposed to live!"

"No you weren't. Ever seen the movies, Aramov? People just love the happy ending."

Using what strength she had left, Aramov pulled apart her jacket, showing off the explosive charge wrapped around her chest. Bryan felt another gasp leave him. The round had slipped between two of the syntax charges, imbedding itself right in her heart.

She was on borrowed time now.

"Happy endings suck." She hissed, slamming her paw on the detonator, grinning as the explosion blew Bryan threw the window and towards the ground below.

Even with the night time falling fast, he could still see the ground coming. His final thought before darkness overtook him came simple.

_Semper Fi_

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_Bryan's Point of View 1st Person_

I grumbled, not really wanting to open my eyes, even as something on my forehead bothered me greatly. I felt well rested for the most part, but extremely tired as far as my muscles went. It was almost like I had over done myself into a deep sleep.

I opened my eyes to see the moist cloth being pulled from them, just in time to see a black and silver fox staring back down at me. "You weren't supposed to wake up, right now. Not until the girl gets back." She said, letting a smile creed onto her face.

"You gave me quite the scare, you know. Falling like that. Wasn't sure if I was going to make it to you in time. I barely did as it is."

"What? What happened? What's going on?" I asked, my mouth felt wet, yet dry at the same time.

The fox's smile grew. "You guys won the war, that's what's going on."

"I don't understand... what happened? Where are the others?"

"They're fine... it's just..." She stopped speaking, looking over her left shoulder. I couldn't move my head to see what she was looking at. What's worse is then the room began to spin around me. I became aware that I felt cold and wet, and something was moving around me.

Voice were calling out my name, telling me to come back.

The voices faded away as I was enveloped into darkness. And somewhere in there, another voice called me. I looked up to see someone smiling down at me, waving a single finger as if to say 'not yet'.

I didn't recognize the person, but I knew that it was someone important. And then it hit me. The Gate Keeper.

But as the voices returned, and shockwaves of pain overtook my form, the images changed, and in the darkness I saw my dead wife...

...but everything was alright.

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"Clear!"

"Get out of the way!"

"We're losing him!"

"The fuck we are! I need two bags of O negative, stat! Prep an operation room, this ones messy."

"He won't make it!"

"We still have to try... get out of the way!"

"Clear!"

"I said move, damn it!"

The doctors were rushing the gurney through the crowded halls, pushing anyone who wasn't a patient out of the way in a rush for the operation rooms. On that gurney was Bryan, near death's door, but still pushing ahead. Various tubes and machines hooked onto his body, trying to hold back his hand from knocking on the door in which he was so close to.

As the gurney hit the operation room doorway, three of the doctors stood back as the operation team took control. Working quickly.

"Man," One of the doctors said, shaking his head. "I really don't think he'll make it... A fall like that?"

"It could of been worse, Jay." The nurse replied, tossing her gloves into the hazardous waste basket. "Witnesses said they saw a second figure fall with him... but no one found anyone at the scene. Obviously someone saved him from a worse fate."

"I don't know... maybe." Jay replied, falling silent as a dark and dank group of agents walked down the hall towards them. Two of them had slings on their shoulders while the others carried rifles over theirs.

One of them stepped up to the doctor while the other sat down.

"How's he looking?" Mei asked, already grim.

"It isn't good... he's unresponsive. He has massive blood loss, trauma to the head, three bruised ribs, a shattered wrist, and many, many other injuries we've yet to even discover. If he makes it through the surgery, I doubt he would make it through the night."

"Do whatever you can, Doc. Money is no object." Mei pleaded.

"You guys know we treat the military for free. It's not the money we're worried about. It's your friend in there." He said, motioning with his head towards the double doors and the frantic surgical team inside.

Mei rested her rifle against the wall, taking a seat and pulling her knees to her chest.

For the first time in her life, she felt weak and sick at the same time.

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Bryan's world had been ejected into black again. The voices faded and the mist dispersed, only to thrust him back into the fictional world he had been in before. The fox was looking back down at him again, her grin gone.

"Sorry, it's just really hard to keep a connection when they're shocking you." She whispered, whipping the cloth across his forehead again. "I won't lie to you... you're barely alive. Your body wants to give in, but the mind; your spirit, is strong. The others are worried about you... I can see them from here... I can see you from here... not this you, but the real you... the doctors don't like what they're seeing but... you'll make it."

"Who are you?" Bryan asked.

That grin came back. "I'm Calita McCloud. You've worked with my brother."

"I was told you were missing in action... assumed dead."

"I was missing in action, yes. But that's only because I discovered a few things and needed to act on them without the Military. If they had known what I had known they would of told me to stay way."

"What did you find out?"

"I'll tell you in due time. Just not right now."

"At least tell me one thing... are you real, or just a figment of my mind as it fries out?"

"I'm real. Truth be told I'm standing in an observation window just about the surgery room. I'm talking to you through a technique I've learned over the years. It's kind of a cross between telekinesis and radio waves. It's hard to explain. Maybe I'll have Silver explain it to you when you wake up."

"You know Silver?"

"Yah... me and him are kind-of dating."

"Oh... wait, what? He knows about you and didn't tell me?"

"He knows a lot of things. He tells you what he's aloud to. But even he has been sworn to keep some things a secret... I have to go now, reserve your strength, you'll need it."

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Brea looked up from her lap when she heard footsteps coming down the hall. A black and silver vixen was walking towards the group, or more directly, towards Silver.

She whispered a few things into his ear before giving him a brief hug and heading towards the exit. Walking directly past Fox on her way there. He took a few more steps before stopping dead in his tracks, turning around to see who had just walked past him.

But she was gone...

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Brea watched him silently. Her paws gripping his hand tight as she fought to stay awake.

It had been three days.

Three days of doctors telling her they didn't know when he would wake up. Three days of them telling her he most likely wouldn't make it. Three days of waiting.

And she hated waiting.

She felt her head dip low again and caught herself.

"You should really get some sleep." Silver said, coming up behind her. His arm still in a sling. "This isn't healthy. Besides, when he does wake up you'll be too tired to be excited."

He was about to say more, but when her head dipped back down again he could tell she had finally fallen asleep. Silver turned around about to go ask the nurse for some medication when he saw Fox standing in the door way.

"Not you too! If I see anyone else guilt tripping... it's been three days."

"I know but... if I had just gotten there sooner..."

"Fox, you know damn well you couldn't of done anything. It was a bomb that she had complete control of. There's nothing either you or Krystal could have done. Besides, you don't see Krystal moping around, do you?"

"That's because she has to worry about James. She'll start moping soon too."

Silver looked over his shoulder at Brea. "She needs to stop moping too. You would figure that after doing the job they do they would be happy to see the others alive instead of dead. Slightly comatose or not."

Fox nodded, turning to leave to go back home. Silver stopped him. "Grab one of the others to help carry her home." He said, nodding at Brea.

Fox shook his head, walking up to the sleeping feline and scooping her up.

"See you back at he house." He whispered, walking towards the door.

Silver took up the chair Brea had fallen asleep in. Sitting back in it and closing his eyes.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Calita smiling down at him.

"He's just fine. We had quite the conversation while he was in surgery."

"So you've said. I take it he knows about us?"

"Yup. Though I think he's always suspected you've found someone new... I just don't think he suspected it was me."

Silver nodded. "So he'll be okay, right? He's done a lot for me... I really wouldn't want him to leave now. I still have some debt to repay."

"He'll be fine. I'm sure of it." She was about to say more when a commotion outside caused her to turn around, seeing Mei, Jackie, and Brea standing in the doorway.

"You! I knew it!" Jackie yelled, getting close to Calita, who took a step back, bumping into the bed.

"Wait, what? Knew what? I'm just visiting because this is one of Silver's friends."

"Don't play dumb with me." Mei said. "I watched what happened, you jumped after him."

"I swear I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't lie to me too! It greatly insults my intelligence." Brea said, stepping forward, offering her good paw. "Thank you for what you did. I couldn't of asked you to do it... but thank you all the same."

Calita eyed her for a moment, before shaking the paw.

"Just call it professional courtesy. I would of done it for any of you."

Now Fox appeared in the doorway. "Why can't you just sit in the car like a normal..." He trailed off, seeing Calita staring at him.

"Calita." He gasped. "It's been too long."

"Brother." She acknowledged. "Wish we could have had a reunion on better terms."

"Me too."

Brea interrupted. "You lost a few of your own in that firefight, or so Mei tells me."

"Three to be exact." Calita said, watching her brother for a moment before looking back at Brea.

"We will add them to our wall." She said, shaking Calita's hand again.

"Wall?"

"Our Wall of Fallen Heroes. We already have a few names on it."

"All an effect of war." Calita said, turning to Silver she patted him on the back.

"I should get moving before the General shows up. Don't want to deal with the Military right now. I'll see you back at your house."

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Bryan's mind was swimming. He was trying to wake up, but something was tying him down. He felt his body sigh as a small part of him took control.

_So tired..._

Still he fought, pushing through the darkness barrier to return to his body. He regretted it, feeling the bash of pain hit him full blast.

_Free at last, free at last._

His eyes stung when he opened them. But at least he could see. A nurse was removing some equipment from his arm, and judging by the feeling in his throat, she had also just removed a tube. She finished putting the stuff on the cart before shutting and locking the door.

"Don't like my disguise fool, yah. And don't get used to this 'me taking care of you' idea." She said with a light tone, removing the hat and brushing back her ears. "So, hero boy is awake. We'll have to alert his lover, won't we."

"Cute, real cute." Bryan gasped out. "So you weren't just in my head."

Calita grinned, looking over his shoulder. "Dreaming of pretty girls other than Brea? For shame."

He allowed himself a small grin. "Never said anything about pretty."

"Looking for another feeding tube?"

"Now beautiful, that's another word."

"Nice save."

"I should be saying that to you."

"No thanks necessary. You've done Corneria a word of good, taking out Aramov and Akita that is."

"Yes but with so many dead, it doesn't seem like much of a victory."

"What about the so many saved? What about Brea? I know you lost Tommy and Ivan, and that will be extremely hard to cope with when you allow yourself too, but you saved so many." Her voice had changed from the playful tone to more of a sentimental version. She was holding a moist cloth to his mouth as she ruffled his hair.

"You did good. That's all that matters."

"Where is she? Brea I mean."

"Fox had to drag her home. She wouldn't allow herself to sleep. The hospital will be calling her shortly."

"One more question." Bryan yawned out. "Why are you dressed like my nurse?"

Calita brushed her ears back under her hat. "General Pepper is wandering the hospital. I really don't want to deal with him just yet." She said, unlocking the door. "See yah 'round."

Bryan put his head back, soon fading into the darkness he had been used too.

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Next thing Bryan new he was being woken up by someone shaking him.

"I'm up! I'm up!" He said, looking to his left to see Brea sitting there.

She offered him a grin. "Sorry, I couldn't wait for you to wake up." She said, nearing jumping into the bed with him. Instead she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tonight.

"You scared the shit out of me. You know that right?"

"Won't happen again, promise."

"I'm just so happy you're alive."

Bryan looked over her shoulder to see Mei leaning on the door frame.

"Commander." She offered, touching two fingers to her forehead.

"Good to see you're still acting normal. Now, can you guys get my out of this bed. I really hate hospitals."

"Hold tight, Jackie's bringing the wheelchair. We'll have you out of here in just a few minutes."

"I don't need a wheelchair." Bryan protested, moving to swing himself off the bed. Brea stopped him.

"Think you can walk?"

"No but..."

"Then, Bryan, just get in the damn chair."

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The park smelled of fresh rain as Brea and Bryan sat at the benches, eating lunch. They were enjoying the quiet and time alone together.

"Why did you say it... why did you answer me before you jumped into the elevator shaft."

Bryan looked up. "What's that?"

"You answered me before you went. Why? I thought you said I would have to wait, give a reason to survive."

"You want the truth, or the answer that will make you feel better?"

She glared at him.

"Fine, fine. The truth is, I didn't expect to come back. I didn't expect to make it as far as I did, never mind to survive Aramov face to face."

"But what if-"

"No buts about it, Brea. I'm telling you the truth. I expected to be dead, I accepted it. I was scare shitless, mind you, but I expected to die. And to be honest, as long as she died with me, I didn't care... well almost didn't care."

"She's really gone. Mei and Jackie hit the floor that exploded after you were air lifted. They founds bits and pieces of Aramov's body. She's really dead. The better news is that word has gone out over the wire that Corneria isn't open for terrorist business anymore, something about to super, kick ass team taking them all down and killing the leaders."

"Akita's death wasn't our hand."

"They don't know that."

"Where did you get this information anyway?"

"Carmen still has a few contacts that warned her to move her ass off Corneria is she wished to live. They told her we'd find her and kill her."

"She knows better."

"Yah, her and Mei are like long lost sisters now. In fact, isn't that them and Bill over there?"

Bryan looked to where Mei was pointing, seeing Mei and Bill sitting on another bench a little ways away. Carmen was to the left of Bill while her little sister played with some other kids in the grass.

"Yah..." Bryan laughed. "If this situation went on much longer poor Mei would have wrinkles. Ever notice that through the entire war she always had some intense look on her face? Even when she was sleeping on the couch."

"We all have our little tells, Bryan. You know mine."

"That little ear twitch thing. I know, used to make me want to grab them and tell you to sit still."

"Like your constant thinking and pacing is any better." She paused. "So, how long do you think it will take for this situation to pass over and everyone on Corneria to forget it?"

"To be honest... I don't think it will."

Brea took a bite of her sandwich. "The wall opens tomorrow, I'm taking you to go see it."

Bryan nodded. "It's going to feel weird to see Ivan's name up there."

"At least it isn't yours."

"Still..." He sighed, letting the sentence hang in the air.

"Remember, it's a tough job. Remember my first day, back on earth? I refused to get close to any of you for fear of losing someone in battle. Then I realized who my commanding officer was."

"And you melted." Bryan answered as Brea got up, sitting herself in his lap, resting her head on his chest.

"Like butter." She whispered, feeling herself drift off.

"Don't fall asleep, you're driving home."

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Bryan's finger's traced the lines of the name embedded into the steel that represented the monument. The Wall of Fallen Heroes was filled with close to fifty names. All of those lost in the combat in both Darkness incidents. The words '_Semper Fi_' were written across the top, only to have 'Lost but not forgotten.' written below it.

The once clear sky was now filled with clouds that threatened the city with a downpour. But even as the rain began, none of them moved. Bryan wheeled over to Brea who was standing in front of another name.

"You know you did the right thing, Brea. He would have been mad at you for trading things with them. You know this." He said, hoisting himself out of the chair.

Even while he's legs were still weak, they managed to support him. Mei took a step in his direction to get him to sit back down, but his glare waved her off. Instead, he took Brea into his arms again.

"I still can't help feeling guilty. He died for a just fight... but it wasn't just reasons."

"Aramov ordered me to do it." Carmen whispered from behind them. Brea didn't even look up at her. "But at the last second I couldn't... So she handed him off to the fox team. But she forced me to watch... I... up to the last second, he kept his head up and told those around him that he was proud that he wasn't be traded in and that in the end, his side would prevail. He knew it all, Brea. He even told me before he was handed off..." She stopped speaking. "Oh god..." She cried out, falling to her knees as sobs over took her.

Katt was already helping the girl up. "Get away from me! Can't you see what I've done! I'm a terrorist! I killed innocent people! People with families! She ran up to Mei, pulling the Colt from the holster and pressing it to her gut, holding Mei's hand firmly on the trigger.

"Do it! I deserve it!"

"Knock it off Carmen!" Mei yelled.

"I said do it!" She yelled again, this time pulling the gun from Mei's hand's and point it wildly around. None of them dared to draw their own weapon. In a final act of frustration, she pointed it at her head again, this time she didn't pull the trigger... nothing happened.

"I don't understand... why won't death take me."

"Because, you made up for everything." Katt said, taking the weapon from her loose hands, handing it back to Mei.

"Besides, the safety is on and you have to use the fingerprint identification next to the thumb guard in order for it to cock the firing pin." Mei said, siding it back into the holster before moving to Carmen.

"When you decided to help us, you saved so many lives, Carmen. Everything you've ever done, you made up for."

Bryan sighed, sitting back into his chair.

"Too much excitement, I'm exhausted."

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Through the next couple of months, various attacks were quelled by the men and women of DCTU. With the exception of the Darkness incidents, no one else on the agency roster has died in combat.

Falco and Katt are still together, though the fight often, they still love each other. They also have two kids.

Bill and Mei were later mated, though neither of them moved from the DCTU frat house. They are currently family planning.

Fox and Krystal continued to train and work with DCTU. Krystal always managed to beat Fox at the stealth missions. Fox maintains that she cheats.

James and Lindsay crushed on each other for a month. He'll be taking her to the prom this week.

Carmen runs intel for DCTU now, she's their leading terrorist actions expert. Her sister Mona skateboards down the halls, running into Dean most of the time.

Wolf made it out of the hospital and protective custody all in one piece, he now works full time at a gun smith's shop.

Dracous moved up the ranks of Military R-n-D. He now has Brea's old job and designs weapons for the Military and DCTU.

Dean continues to frequent the bars around Corneria city. He's currently dating a silver wolf he met at a dance club. So far, she's made it clear she loves him.

Silver and Calita moved within two blocks of the DCTU frat house. They now have two kids and one more on the way. Fox is ecstatic.

General Pepper received fourteen awards for his leadership during the Darkness incidents.

Bryan and Brea soon moved a block east of the DCTU frat house and still work full time shifts together. They have plans to start a family.

The Gatekeeper's numbers made sense again, causing the ghastly images to disappear from the Corneria Forensics Complex, thus allowing the place to be re-opened and cleaned out.

After the Darkness incident, the men and women of DCTU received awards from the Military for their efforts to stop the tragedy. For weeks after, their reception desk was flooded with thank you cards, flowers, and gifts, all from the Cornerian people in recognition of their efforts and sacrifice.

At the same time, four people decided to decorate the graves of anyone who died in the war, while two more decorated the Wall of Heroes. And to this day, no one has forgotten:

The Darkness Falls Incident.

-END-

(ring)

(ring)

"Hello?"

"_So, how did it go?"_

"You! They did just fine... the stronger ones made it out in on piece. They all played their parts."

"_And Calita?"_

"She still has no clue what she's gotten herself into."

"_Good, see to it that it stays that way. We don't' want them snooping into our affairs, got it? You and I know damn well that the minute they smell something foul they'll go looking, and we don't need the extra attention, do we? At least, not yet anyway. For now, let them think they've won. What they don't know, can't hurt us, got it?"_

"Understood. But I'm still not sure what your plans are..."

"_Let me worry about those. Just know that you'll come out on top, eh General?"_

"Fine..."

"_Good, now I need to go before this call is traced. See yah 'round General. And remember, Mr. Pepper, I can always find you should you feel the need to screw me over."_

(Disconnect)


End file.
